Bolshevik Revolution

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Cry, the Beloved Country Book I

        

        

        Stephen Kumalo is a kind, humble, respectful, and extremely pious man through and through. Kumalo, as a character, has changed immensely over the course of the book. If a person did not know that Cry, the Beloved Country was a fictional story they would never believe that Stephen was a made up character. Reverend Kumalo has a different type of personality. Kumalo is a round and dynamic character in many different ways.

        Reverend Kumalo is a kind, humble, respectful, and pious man throughout the novel. A little girl brings Kumalo the letter and he inquires, “Perhaps you might be hungry, small one", he pronounces, “Go to the mother then. Perhaps she has some food." From these couple of lines we can see that Kumalo is kind and humble. He offers her food, but does not forcibly push her to go eat the food. Kumalo accepts the help of a man to find the bus station. The man goes on to ask, “Shall I get your ticket for you, umfundisi?" Kumalo gives the man money and never sees him again. The Reverend shows respect to the man and how pious he is as a man. Instead of refusing the man's help he kindly accepted it. Through his faith he was able to trust this man with his money, he was disappointed but not truly angry.

        Mr. Kumalo changes over the course of the novel. He goes from being religious and naive to beginning to lose faith and more refined. A young man inquires of Kumalo,"Have you your money for the ticket?" and "Shall I get your ticket for you, umfundisi?" Kumalo was able to trust this man like no one else would have because of his faith. His faith was not the only force acting on his trust, it was also his naivety. Reverend Kumalo begins to lose his faith when he hears the words "...it was he who fired the shot." uttered. He started to doubt God and his faith. Through this experience Kumalo also becomes refined from learning that through suffering he can gain experience.

        Stephen's realistic quality is incredible for a fictional character. Throughout the book he feels pain and the reader feels his pain because it is conveyed so exquisitely. Kumalo fears that his son his in prison and a young man says to him, “I have heard what you fear. It is true." Once Kumalo hears these words his world falls apart and because he reacts as he does you can't help but feel sorry for him, even though you know he is just a fictional character. The author wanted to portray how most South Africans live, and how a lot of real people live like this every day.

        While Stephen has good qualities in his personality he also has bad qualities. Whenever the times get tough for Kumalo he begins to lose his faith in God. He does not think that God cares about his life. This is a negative quality to Kumalo's personality. Mr. Kumalo has an incredible sense of right and wrong. He never does anything truly wrong and when he does he deeply regrets it. He knows when he is at a fault. This is a positive thing because it is an important quality to know when he is at or not at fault in any situation.