Alan Paton

By: The Armed Arabs

 Facts about his
writings
• Cry, the Beloved Country was Paton’s
first novel
• It was originally published in 1948.

• It was a great success everywhere,

except in South Africa where is was
banned, because of its politically
controversal material.
h ttp :// q a n d a . e n cyclo p e d ia . co m / q u e stio n / w e re -
•
 Why did he write Cry,
The Beloved Country
• One reason he did NOT write the book is
because of Apartheid, since it
was not law until later the
same year of its
original publication.
• He wrote the book in a similar
style to the King James
Version of the Bible.
• The main reason he wrote this
book was to spread Christianity.
h ttp :// u p lo a d . w ikim e d ia . o rg / w ikip e d ia / e n / 7 / 7 5 / C ryB e lo ve d C
 Where was Alan
Paton from
Alan was
born in • It’s Zulu
Pietermaritz name is
burgNatalPr umGundlovu
ovince, in •
South Africa.

h ttp :// e n . w ikip e d ia . o rg / w iki/ S o u th _A frica

 Where does this novel
take place?
• Cry, The Beloved Country takes
place in South Africa.

• The beginning of the book starts out

in the small town of Ixopo. Soon
into the book the main character
goes on a journey down to
Johannesburg, which is where
most of the story takes place.

• It is the largest city in South Africa.

• Though during the Apartheid

era it was split into 11
http://www.theodora.com/maps/new9/local
south_africa_provinces .jpg
authorities. 7
were White
domain and 4 were Black
 Apartheid
• Apartheid-a system of legal racial
segregation enforced by the National
Party in South Africa.
• The apartheid was just recently
removed from South Africa in 1994
after a series of
negotiations took place.
• It caused civil unrest as well as riots.
• The Apartheid segregated Africans,
ttp :// e n . w iWhites,
kip e d ia . oand
rg / wIndians.
iki/ A p a rth e id
 Apartheid Video
• This is a video power point that gives
many examples of apartheid.
• Many of the photos show apartheid in
South America but a few show it
elsewhere.
• You can see the different types of
segregation.
h ttp :// w w w . yo u tu b e . co m / w a tch ?v = Z w g A P lX O b
•

•
 Did his life influence
the book?
• Yes, he lived in a place where Apartheid
was very common, and this subject is
discussed very much in Cry, The
Beloved Country.
• One part of Apartheid that really shines
through in the book is the physical as
well as the emotional structures of their
society.
• He attempts to give an unbiased view on
apartheid. He tells how the Whites are
affected by ‘native crime’. While the
Blacks suffer from severe social
 Did his life influence
the book?
• Continued…
He also talks about the land itself. How
South Africa is facing problems with
the degrading of the land that is
reserved for the natives only. There
is often native crime because of this.
• Something else Alan wanted to
touch on in his book is the fear
in the people.
Some of his characters
are just so scared and
they have great fear, because
h ttp :// e n . w ikip ethey
d ia . o don’t
rg / w iki/feel safe.
C ry_th e _B e lo ve d _C o u n try
 Politics
• South Africa has a Bicameral Parliament.
They then have two separate houses.
• The upper house with 90 members and the
lower house with no more than 400
members.
• The members of the lower house are elected
based upon population basis.
• These elections are held every 5 years.
• South Africa has nine provinces. Each
receives ten members to represent their
province in the upper house parliament
h ttp :// e n . w ikip e d ia . o rg / w iki/ N a tio n a l_C o u n cil_o f_Pro vin ce s
h ttp :// e n . w ikip e d ia . o rg / w iki/ N a tio n a l_A sse m b ly_o f_S o u th _A frica
•
Bicameral Parliament
• Upper House-National Council of
Provinces-NCOP-Cape Town
• Lower House-National Assembly-Cape
Town
• The National Party was the governing
party of South Africa.
Alan Paton was not very
happy with this since
one of its main
polices was
h ttp :// e n . w ikip e d ia . o rg / w iki/ N a tio n a l_Pa rty_( S o u th _A frica )
 Edward Callan
• He was a life long friend of Alan Paton.

• Wrote extensively on his work (loved

his poetry) and has written many
reflections on Cry, The Beloved
Country
• He is now an English professor
at Western Michigan
h ttp :// w w w . o p ra h . co m / a rticle / o p ra h sb o o kclu b / cryth
University.
 Why might culture and time
period be important to understand
before reading a novel?

• Novels often include the real culture of the

certain era.
• By researching the place and time the
book takes place, you are learning about
the book itself.
• Knowing the culture you can get an
essence of if it was a good or bad time,
a lot of wealthy people, or how the
population was doing.
Why might an author’s background
and life experience influence the
content of a novel ?

• When authors write books to it is often

that they lived it or it is something
they hold close to their heart.
• It is much easier to write a novel about
things you know about.
• Also when an author writes a book
they put their own feelings into it,
and often their opinion. You can only
do so if you truly know what you are
talking about.
How would understanding the culture and time
period that a novel was written, as well as, the
author’s background and life experience, help in
your understanding of a novel ?
• Researching an author before you read
their book will overall help you
understand the book completely and
thoroughly.
• You can find out whether they lived
through an experience that relates to the
main character in the book.
• Or had a tragedy in their life that caused
them to write maybe a rather tragic
book.
 References
http://
• 2 qanda.encyclopedia.com/question/were-some-works-alan-paton-136020.html

http://
• 3 upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/75/CryBelovedCountry .jpg

http://
• 4 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa

5 www.theodora.com/maps/new9/south_africa_provinces .jpg
•http://

6 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apartheid
•http://
http://
• 7 www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwgAPlXObA4&feature=player_embedded

9 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cry_the_Beloved_Country
•http://

•http://1en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Council_of_Provinces http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Assembly_of_South_Africa
0
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Party_ (South_Africa)
• 1
1 .oprah.com/article/oprahsbookclub/crythebelovedcountry /ctbc_expert_01 /4
http://www