Cry, The Beloved Country Book 2, Chapter 20

James sits in Arthur's office, awed at how many books his son owned. Many of the books are about South Africa, and there are also many invitations from various groups, asking Arthur to attend parties, meetings, etc. He reads his son's unfinished manuscript, which lists the reasons that South Africa is so troubled today: white people took over, and forced the natives into smaller and smaller areas, overworking their land. Then they lured the natives to the city with hopes of work in the mines, and underpaid them, so that they could not become educated or move up in life, and could not leave the mines. "It is not permissible to add to one's possesions if these things can only be done at the cost of other men. Such development has only one true name, and that is exploitation." Chapter 20, pg. 45 He writes that white civilization has destroyed the black way of life. James reads his son's unfinished work-the one he was writing when he murdered-twice. Then he reads Lincoln's Gettysburg Address (Arthur had many, many books on Lincoln) and leaves the house in a stupor, thinking of the bright child that is now his dead son.

Topic Tracking: Race Relations 6