Cry the Beloved Country and why it is Literary fiction vs. Commercial Fiction
...this book. Stephen views himself as a victim instead of an accomplice to the situation he is in. There is another theme in this song that is related to this piece of literature. The theme here is human rights and personal sanction of racial or ethnic differences. This novel portrays this theme very abundantly. When Stephen is speaking with Msimangu on page 56 Msimangu says, "The tragedy is not that things are broken. The tragedy is that they are not mended again. The white man has broken the tribe." He continues by saying that it suited the white man to break the tribe and how they won't be trying to fix what they have broken because it doesn't matter to them, the tribe being the Zulu tribe. In another song by the Dave Matthews Band called, #36, Matthews sings, "Honey, honey, come and dance with me", Dave is referring to a civil rights activist in South Africa named Chris Hani, a man who at the time of his brutal murder was arguably the most popular black leader after Nelson Mandela. His death plunged the country into anarchy and derailed the first all-race elections the following year. The song celebrates his life and helps us stay in reality. In the book there is a reference to Professor Hoernle. Hoernle was a great fighter for the liberation of South Africa. "When he spoke, there was no white man that could speak against him (77)" Msimangu told Stephen. Both of these references speak the reality of South Africa. I'm almost positive there are probably many more themes that could be picked up from this book of enlightenment. That is not the soul reason I feel this is a literary work. Paton's choice of m...