Cry, the Beloved Country: To Be Deeply Moved

“Time does not change us, it merely unfold us.”

~Max Frisch

In Paton’s Cry, the Beloved Country, the change James Jarvis undergoes following the death of his son helps to illustrate the thematic idea that sacrifice can cause progress.  In Book I, it is clear from Stephen’s initial description of James that the man prefers to keep to himself, not interacting with the people of Ndotsheni.  “I mean I know him well by sight and name, but we have never spoken.  His farm is in the hills above Ndotsheni, and he sometimes rode past our church” (103).  Yet by the end of the novel, James is an active member of the community, helping in any way he can.

In Book II, James’ stolid attitude extends past his lack of interaction with the natives. Prior to his son’s death, their relationship was estranged at best, and the news of his son’s achievements comes as quite a surprise.  “Jarvis filled his pipe slowly, and listened to this tale of his son, to this tale of a stranger” (172).  Upon hearing of his son’s feats, James becomes deeply moved.  “I knew too that he was a decent man … But I wish now that I’d known more of him” (175).

Since Arthur is long gone, and James cannot hope to know more of his son, he does the next best thing: knowing more about what his son stood for.  After reading his son’s last pieces of work:  “Jarvis sat, deeply moved.  Whether because this was his son, whether this was because this was almost the last act of his son, he could not say.  Whether because there is some quality in the words, that too he could not say, for he had given little time in his life to the savouring and judging of words.  Whether because there was some quality in the ideas, that too he could not say, for he had given little time to the study of these particular matters” (188).    When James is moved by these ideas, it is more than just emotionally.  Arthur writes of ignorance and greed overcoming basic human goodness, and how natives often get caught in the middle of it, and James sees his current lifestyle as an example of that.  Although he is lacking in understanding of the ideas these articles present, that does not stop him from trying to embrace them. In fact, before James returns home, he gives John Harrison an envelope containing one thousand pounds, with the hope that it will be used to “do all the things [John] and Arthur wanted to do” (247), thus keeping Arthur’s generous spirit alive.

Upon James’ return to High Place in Book III, the change in his attitude towards native treatment is visible in the way he uses his resources and status to help conditions in Ndotsheni.  When Stephen  mentions him to the church bishop he says: “Does he not ride here to see me, and did not the small boy come to my house? Did he not send milk for the children, and did he not get this young demonstrator to teach us farming?” (294-295).This, along with the “new church” (296) and “the new dam that was to be built” (296), all help to demonstrate just how far Jarvis has come from the man Stephen used to see riding “in the hills above Ndotsheni” (103).

Although James grieved for his son, he didn’t let that grief define him.  In one of his articles, Arthur claimed he “would rather die than live [in a world without right]” (208).  James has taken this phrase to heart, doing his part to make sure that the world he steps out is one his son would have been proud to die for.  Although Arthur did become a martyr, James Jarvis made a great change came about because of it, proving that sometimes, sacrifice is the cause of progress.

Thatnerdychic :]

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