Cry, the Beloved Country

Khumalo is unused to traveling by rail. He worries about his sister and his son, all while traveling to a place he is not only unfamiliar with, but a city in which he fears danger. Paton establishes that the city is foreign to Kumalo in many ways, even in language; Kumalo has so little experience with urban areas that he mistakes a mining area for a metropolis. Kumalo is therefore the quintessential outsider when he reaches Johannesburg. He is also a target for thieves, who are more than willing to steal Khumalo's money.