Cry the Beloved Country is at the time of the Apartheid, in which the law discriminated against the Natives of South Africa separating them from the whites who lead successful lives. The main theme in this book is that Ignorance is something that a lot of people cant afford to have. Ignorance is shown throughout the book by the actions and reactions of Absolom and Gurtude.
Absoloms Ignorance of Guns caused him to kill a man If he knew guns well he most likely would have shot up into the air, instead of the man if he wanted to scare him, but not murder him. 30-40% of the body weight is muscle and the other half of that is water so that means that about 20%-40% of your body weight is critical organs so you have about a ¼ chance of hitting something that actually matters. That is pretty high. He also would have known that he wouldn't have the skill to hit a skinny noncritical area of the body if he shot a man, having only shot a once before at a tree. He also did not know the danger of a loaded gun can do. approximately 20% of people who got injured or died had injured were shot unnitentionaly. But, they still died, or got injured and traumatized by the fact that they got shot (http://www.bradycampaign.org/key-gun-violence-statistics). “It is true that they did not go to the house with the intent to kill a man. But, it is true that they took with them weapons the use of which might well result in the death of any man. . .”(Patron, 235) Although he bought the gun for this purpose, he thought that he were skilled enough to just scare a man off by shooting at him, that was his made him very ignorant.
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The ignorance displayed by mainly the white men in power, made the Natives lives harder. She has been in prison more than once,”(Paton, 53) When Gertrude became a prostitute to support herself and her son, she was going against the law. She was bound to get arrested. Thousand of non- white people were imprisoned during the ahpartied, they were treated horribly. One of the tactics to make the non-whites less than the whites were to make them eat horrible food that prisoners thought was practically inedible. (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/dec/31/south-africa-prison-apartheid) “In Johannesburg, the peace of god escapes us.” (Paton, 54) People have to work hard just to live due to the cheap labor that the parties only allowed them to get. After the gold mines were unprofitable the White men abandoned the mines and sewage slowly seeped into them, and this kind of mentality put many people out of jobs and caused people to believe that Johannesburg is a godless place. They also never properly closed down the mines, which could cause kids to fall down mineshafts, and sinkholes, because the White men in power didn’t seem to care. When the mines closed down about 1,000 people lost their jobs.
Not knowing what Johannesburg was like turned well doing tribal people on the wrong side of the law. “. . . draws attention to his youth and to the disastrous effect of a great and wicked city on the character of a simple tribal boy.” (Paton, 233) Because Absolom did not know what Johannesburg was like and how hard it is to make money, he decided that he needed to rob a house to support his pregnant girlfriend. This city is also dangerous,” A man has been killed. . . They gamble, drink, and stab.”(Patron, 53). This caused Absolom to get a gun to protect himself from his peers, who he is wary of because they are violent and used to the violence that happens in the city. “It is truer to say that she has many husbands now.” (Paton, 53). But to support herself during her search for her husband Gertrude got arrested many times to support herself and her son.
Ignorance is something that you cant afford to have. In the book, ignorance killed a man, made people of a country unhappy and made them rebel, and made people get arrested.
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