Cry, the Beloved Country

Cry, the Beloved Country

Are the conditions that Alan Paton depicts in Chapter 9 of this novel likely to inspire citizen confidence in the government and a willingness to follow the laws the government enacts? Why or why not?

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Shanty towns will NEVER inspire citizen confidence or willingness to follow laws. They breed nothing more than discontent, bad relations within a community, crime and poverty. Take a look at any large metropolis and the attempts to "house" people in shanty towns, projects, ect., where are the worst crime rates? How do the people live? This type of government assistance is worthless and only promotes additional segregation. That's my opinion off course..........

Chapter Nine:

Johannesburg is the destination for everyone, white or black, who must search for a job or hide a pregnancy or escape for some reason. Finding housing in Johannesburg is next to impossible, and the waiting list for houses includes several thousand names. In Orlando, a Shanty Town has been built nearly overnight. In this Shanty Town, children suffer from sickness, and Dubula must arrange for doctors. When white men first come to Shanty Town, they do so to take photographs, but when more blacks come to Shanty Town from other areas, white men return out of anger and the police drive the people away.

Analysis:

Alan Paton departs from the quest of Stephen Kumalo in this chapter to describe the conditions of Shanty Town and the way in which it came about. The Shanty Town arises mostly out of the prohibitive housing conditions in Johannesburg as well as the intense poverty of its inhabitants, but the efforts of politicians such as Dubula make life at Shanty Town more palatable. For the first time, Paton departs from his sensitive treatment of the whites in South Africa to indict them for their actions; in blaming the whites for the police action that forces the removal of the Shanty Town population, Paton takes his first step toward a definitive political statement.

Source(s)

http://www.gradesaver.com/cry-the-beloved-country/study-guide/section2/