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The Land of South Africa

The land of South Africa is described by Alan Paton in Cry, the Beloved Country in many different ways in order to add to the story and make the novel better. Paton uses diction, imagery, and detail regarding the land that also adds to the story. In the beginning of the book, Paton describes two different lands for the whole first chapter. This chapter starts off Cry, the Beloved Country in a way that puts a picture in the reader’s mind that gives them the information they need to understand the deeper plot of the story.

Paton begins Cry, the Beloved Country with a chapter that just describes the different land of South Africa in places such as Ixopo and Carisbrooke. He says that one land “keeps men, guards men, cares for men” and is “well-tended” with “grass that is rich and matted.” Paton says the other land “no longer keeps men, guards men, cares for men” and is “full of the red blood of the earth.” He uses a lot of diction, imagery, and detail that helps the reader understand his point.

            

When Stephen Kumalo is traveling from his homeland to Johannesburg in the early chapters, Alan Paton describes the difference and change of land from Johannesburg and other cities. In a few of the cities Kumalo travels through, Paton uses words such as “broken” and to describe the land. This diction increases the reader’s knowledge of South Africa and its land in order to help make the story more readable and better.

            

In Chapter 15, Stephen Kumalo tells a story to Father Vincent of a man sleeping in the grass during a storm. He says that it is the “greatest storm of all his days,” and that when people saw the man sleeping, they “let him be.” This is a story revolved around land that shows how people are easily oblivious to the bad things that are going on around them, and that others won’t help in bad situations. The story is like what Kumalo is going through with his family leaving for Johannesburg. He feels like he did not realize the badness until it was too late.

            

In Chapter 12, Alan Paton says that there is “fear in the land.” He says this because when people are scared, they cannot enjoy what is around them, like the land. The people in Johannesburg are afraid of their situations, therefore they are not appreciating the beauty of land around them. And when the land is not appreciated, it falls apart and gets ugly.

            

The land of South Africa is very important in Cry, the Beloved Country. Alan Paton uses vivid detail that helps describe the land and show how it is affected by the people that live on it. Stephen Kumalo’s journey would not have as much meaning as it does if there were no descriptions of the land it involves. The story is not just about the characters and their situations. It is also about the land. 

Martha’s Ditch

This house. The house I grew up in. As I stand in the very same living room, I realized that it is in this same living room that I once opened presents on Christmas morning, watched football with my dad, and conference with my parents when I got in trouble. So many memories were built in this house, but at that point I looked out the back window; all I saw was woods and that ditch. Those woods behind my house are home to so many memories, more memories than even my house can hold. The tall cypress trees,  the murky swamp water, and Martha’s Ditch. The base of all memories I had as a child.

Martha’s Ditch wasn’t just a normal ditch. It was the main ditch of all of Marion. Every drop of water in the city of Marion somehow some way traveled to this ditch. The story behind it’s name is quite an interesting one. There was a girl named Martha a long time ago that was on her way home from work when she ran off the side of the bridge and died instantly. From that day on it was known as hers.

            As I walked back to the ditch I step in some mud. As I went down to clean  off my shoe I had a flash back. I was 14 and my friend Spencer was 16. One night we were young and reckless, influenced by our girl friends. We decided to take his truck back in the woods behind my house. Just as we got in the woods, we realized that we were stuck in the deep black Arkansas mud. It took three trucks and cutting down a tree to get us out of that mud… the same mud that is now dripping off my shoe.

As I approached the ditch I notice a beaver dam. I was 15 at this time, and every day after school I would sit in my boat, crank up the motor and would just ride. Beavers were always a problem daming up the ditch and blocking me from going far down it. I guess you could say the beavers had a bit of a war going on. I would tear down the dam only to find the next day that they had built a bigger and better one. So, I decided to this time move over it with my boat. The easy part was getting over it; the hard part was getting back. I literally had to drive full speed and ramp the dam. I would later send myself air borne from the boat, landing in the cold water. I swam to shore as a watched my boat sink to the bottom.\

As I come back to reality I realize that my girlfriend Diane is trying to cross through the woods to find a filed, freshly harvested. At this moment I remember riding my four wheeler on it when I was a kid hunting for coyotes. I vividly remember chasing a coyote with my friend Alex. Earlier that day we changed a flat tire on his four wheeler. We went to test out the tire in the field. We spotted a coyote and started chasing it. Just as we were gaining on it, a four wheeler tire came rolling past me. I turned around confused to find Alex sitting with only three tires. We forgot to tighten the screws that held the tire on. I pulled up to Alex and said,

“Are you alright?”

He replied with,

“I think we forgot to put the bolts back on the tire.”

After a few laughs we headed back to get help, entering the woods at the exact same spot I’m standing at with Diane now, ten years later.

As I once again return to reality, I hear Diane asking if I’m okay. I laugh and at that point I realize how I took my childhood for granted. There isn’t enough money in the world to take me back to those precious memories in the woods behind my house.

Diane and I are walking back down the back, on our way back to my house, when Diane trips over a metal bar sticking out of the ground. After helping her up, I pulled the bar a few times until it finally came up. As soon as the end thrust through the top layer of dirt, everything in the world went away. Every worry, every thought disappeared. It was my great grandfather’s shotgun I dropped nearly 13 years earlier. Alex and I were duck hunting when I was 14. It was Christmas break; Alex and I loaded the boat after noon and started to head to our duck blind. I was standing at the head of the boat while Alex was driving. There was a lot of debrief in the water due to the logging that was going on upstream from us. We were riding, watching the ducks fly. I had my great grandfather’s shotgun, waiting for a duck to get close. Little did I know a log twice the size of our boat was a few inches under the murky depths if the water. In a split second I went from joy riding to the boat coming to a complete stop. It was like shooting a bullet of a gun. I was the bullet and the boat was the gun, thrusting me forward into the abyss.

I hear Diane’s voice calling my name in the distance, and my thoughts go back to the present. It amazed me how little things like mud and a gun can bring back so many wonderful memories.

How to Drown a Handsome Giant

If you have ever read the Handsomest Drowned man in the world, it begins this village found this drowned man floating in the sea and washing up on there beach. It doesn't tell any prior information on how the man drowned or where he came from.

          This wasn't just some random man this man was very handsome, but the key detail is that he is a giant bigger than any other man known to earth. You have put your self in  the villagers shoes. What would you do if a giant wash up on your beach and you found him? I know i would be very socked im not sure if i would know what to do.

          The giant is dead! You have to wonder how he drowned. Maybe his wife killed him and dumped him in the ocean; Maybe his village thought he was freak and teamed up against him and killed him, or maybe he just drowned or someone drowned him. I dont think it would be easy to drown a giant. You can take classes on alot of things these days to learn new things, but i dont think they have a class on drowning a giant.

          What ever happen to this man we will never know all we can do is infer or make up our own thoughts. The villagers in the story handled it very odd if you ask me. The women fell in love with this dead drowned water logged corpse, and the men envied him. Most people would've buried the body taking the body in your house and playing dress up is little far. I didn't mention they rebuilt there houses to fit the giant better. He is dead! Not sleeping but dead.

          As you can see a situation can be handle many many different ways! I just hope a dead giant doesn't wash up while im at the beach i might just keep walking like i never saw it, or ether take pictures and sell them once the media catches that the us found a giant on there beach. You could probably sell them for as much as they did for a bald picture of brittany spears back when she shaved her head.