Throughout the novel, Paton depicts fear as the cause of conflicts (especially the racial tension that is at the heart of the novel) through constant association of fear with deception, iniquity, and racial conflict. When Stephen Kumalo, the book’s protagonist, questions a woman who owned a building in which his son stayed, she callously pushes off his questions; amid nearly a page of unbroken dialogue, Paton inserts three imperative sentences, commanding the reader to “have no doubt it is fear” in her eyes, in Kumalo’s eyes, in the house itself (Paton, p. 77). It is implied that the woman lies because she is afraid, that Kumalo questions her vigorously (perhaps too much so) out of fear for his son, and even, in a stretch of the imagination that is masterfully achieved through gradual transfer of fear from the woman (who is very likely to fear) to Kumalo (his fear surprises us, but is understandable), that the fear of the personified house is somehow responsible for the dissolute – and eventually disastrous – lifestyle of its inhabitants. Fear is also closely linked to immoral action; Kumalo’s son claims he kills Jarvis’s son out of fear. The killing manifests a central idea of the book: racial tensions fueled by fear. This is also evident in Chapter 12, a haunting passage that excerpts “soundbites” of opposing views on Africa (the “beloved country” of the title); the chapter opens with “Have no doubt it is fear in the land” (Paton, p. 106). This despairing sentence sets the mood for the ensuing chapter, which is characterized by straw man arguments and cultural contrasts; Paton shows that people fear those who are not like them, leading to misunderstandings and hostility – and eventually crescendos into the killing/murder of Jarvis’s son.
Paton also emphasizes the connection to fear of characters like Absalom Kumalo, Kumalo’s siblings, and Jarvis’s grandson in order to show its deleterious effects. Absalom Kumalo repeatedly asserts that he killed out of fear; this fear is both the cause of and the result of the racial estrangement that is tearing apart Africa. After his conviction, Absalom is repeatedly shown being afraid of death and his father, Stephen Kumalo; perhaps his father is a stand-in for God? Kumalo’s sister and brother, Gertrude and John, are both shown as fearful, though in different ways. Gertrude is afraid of change; though her better inclinations tell her to create a new life with her brother, she is unable – or unwilling? The passage is ambiguous – to accept the full responsibility of this shift; she eventually returns home, leaving her son with Kumalo. John is also fearful, despite his “tough” exterior; his rhetoric is empty because he does not believe in it enough to risk himself and his success for it. Thus, though he seems brave to the crowds that flock to his orations, he is at heart insecure and weak. In stark contrast to all of these is Jarvis’s grandson, a candid child who visits a despairing Kumalo near the end of the novel. The boy is unafraid of racial/cultural divides: he enters Kumalo’s house and tries to speak Zulu; even when his naïve requests for milk are denied (because the Africans have no milk), he remains unfazen. He is also instrumental in creating positive change in Kumalo’s village. Kumalo has failed to convince authorities of the desperate need for agricultural renewal, but the boy frankly informs his grandfather about the plight of the Africans. This honesty can be contrasted with the lies of other characters in the novel (such as the landlady described earlier) to show one of fear’s negative effects.
Finally, the novel’s uplifting ending can be directly traced to a reduction of fear, through Kumalo and Jarvis’s renewal and the physical renewal of the land (achieved through a cooperative effort of Africans and Europeans). Throughout the denouement of the novel, Kumalo and Jarvis reconcile on both personal and interpersonal levels. Jarvis reads his son’s work and seeks to understand the peacemaking to which his son was so dedicated, while Kumalo reconciles himself with the troubling reality of his siblings and refocuses his efforts on his village, his son’s wife, and his nephew. At the end of the book, they meet each other in two transcendent encounters: one in a church during a rainstorm (symbolic of the cleansing effect of their joint effort to improve the lives of village members) and the second time as Kumalo ascends the mountain where he will find peace with his son’s death and watch the sun rise on his new efforts. Both men understand the suffering of the other, and they both strive to reduce the lethal power of fear. Furthermore, a lessening of fear is evidenced in the renewal of Kumalo’s village. This is accomplished with help from many parties, including Jarvis’s grandson (who communicates the villagers’ needs), Kumalo (who leads his community), Jarvis (who funds the project), and the young European (who provides the necessary agricultural skills). The rejuvenation of the “beloved country” shows that efforts are productive only when all contributing parties seek to understand each other and work toward a common goal.
On pages 110-111, Paton points out (through a deliciously ambiguous first-person-plural narrator) that fear is draining Africa of its beauty and passion in exchange for security. The novel ends with the evocation to rid the country of “the fear of bondage and the bondage of fear” (Paton, p. 312). Cry, the Beloved Country is at its heart a call for people all over the world to open their minds to those who are not like them; they may find, as Jarvis and Kumalo did, that they have fundamental similarities. Phrases like “Have no doubt it is fear in his/her eyes” are repeated until they have become a sort of refrain; this mirrors the corruption and vice that Kumalo discovers when he enters the chaotic world of Johannesburg. Paton further emphasizes the harm that fear can wreak by associating fear (or lack of fear) with specific characters. Despite the tragedy and devastation (both physical and moral/emotional) of the book, Paton concludes by offering us a choice: the sunrise that Kumalo has reached is in our future, but its time is undecided. Paton has shown us the results of fear – now, we must step forward to reject fear and forge a better future for our “beloved countries.