The Relationship Between Stephen and John in Cry, The Beloved Country

Stephen and John Kumalo are brothers that play a major role in the novel: “Cry, The Beloved Country”. Throughout the story, we learn many different things about these two characters on how they react to different situation and their overall personalities. Unlike normal brothers, Stephen and john Kumalo are extremely different and if they didn’t share the same last name you would never have guessed that they grew up together. An example that really manifests the major difference between them is their reactions when they find out that their children are both criminals.

Stephen Kumalo is the protagonist of the story. He is an Angelicin priest in control of the church in the village he lives in, Ndotsheni. He is a humble man that has a clear sense of right or wrong as a strong faith in God, making him a trustworthy person and overall, a good man. Compared to the rest of the village, he is neither wealthy nor poor putting him through struggles such as putting children through school just like the average person in the village. However, all of his positive personality traits don’t make him perfect. He has angry outbursts and tells lies nevertheless, he prays to god to save him from temptation and repents whenever he is in the wrong.

John Kumalo, Stephen Kumalo’s brother, was originally a religious, practicing Christian and a Carpenter. Time turned him into an extremely successful business man as well as one of the 3 most powerful colored politicians in the city of Johannesburg. He used his powerful voice to fight for the rights of the black South Africans. Fear of punishment, however, prevents him from contributing to any major changes and he is also known to be very corrupt with no courage. His view about living in Johannesburg is shown in the following quote: “Down in Ndotsheni, I am a nobody, just as you are a nobody, my brother-I am subject to the chief, who is an uneducated man. I must show respect to him, but he is an uneducated man. Here in Johannesburg, I am a man of some importance, of some influence”. This quote shows Johns love for power and money which opposes his brother’s opinion on them.

In the novel Absalom Kumalo, Stephen Kumalo’s son, as well as Mathew Kumalo, John Kumalo’s son broke into Arthur Jarvis’s house in an attempt to rob him. They knocked the servant out cold in order to proceed with the robbery and when Arthur came down to take a look at where all the racket was coming from, Absalom shot him on sight, out of fear. Upon hearing about this Stephen was in despair. He couldn’t understand why his son had carried out this horrible act and how he let the devil get to him. He desperately wanted to understand how and why his son slipped into the criminal world as shown in the following quotes: “You wrote nothing, sent no message. You went with bad people. You stole and broke in. But why?”, quote: “And Kumalo looks and sees that it is true, there is the father of the man who was murdered, the man who has the farm on the tops above Ndotsheni, the man he has seen riding past the church. And Kumalo trembles, and does not look at him anymore. For how does one look at such a man?”. These quotes clearly show Stephens concern, shame and sadness over this incident and does not consider how it is going to affect him personally. On the other hand, John reaction does not come from a moral view on the incident. He is more concerned on how the people will react to this news. What will happen to my reputation? Was the only thing going through his mind because all he cared about was power and that the peoples support for him doesn’t go away and he knows that if his son was found guilty he won’t be as popular with the people as he was before. Kumalo said: “Well, well, he says we must go at once and see a lawyer”. After finding seeing a lawyer, Mathew throws Absalom under the bus and puts the blame on him for everything that happened. Absalom is sentenced to death and John’s popularity remains.

In conclusion, it is shown repeatedly that Stephen and John are complete opposites since one is considered with the moral effect of a murder and the other is only concerned about his popularity and will do anything including getting his nephew sentenced to death as long as his reputation and popularity is maintained.