Journal #11

In Cry, The Beloved Country the land parallels the Jumalo family. It is breaking as their family breaks down along side it. One example of how they parallel is when Umfundisi goes to Johannesburg to find his sister he enters a completely strange land. When he finds his sister he also finds a woman completely strange and different to him. As the family gets worse so does the land. When Kumalo returns home after his son is sentenced to death he finds the land has dried up. The stream runs empty and the crops are dying so soon their will be nothing to eat or drink.

Journal #10

One person is Molly Barker. She founded a group called Girls on the Run (GOTR) with a mission to show young girls how to live a life full of healthy living and self respect. It engages about 45,000 girls a year.

Robert P. Moses played a pivotal role in the civil rights movemtn and is now fighting for equal education for all students. He launched the Algebra Project to spread math literacy to minority students.

David Anderson created Safe Families for Children as a voluntary alternative to the child welfare sytem. It temporarily places children with loving families while parents can deal with unemploymetn, violence, rahabilitation, or incarceration.

Journal #9

For this entry I chose to focus on Kumalo's nephew who has no name, but was mentioned seven times in chapter thirty as the little boy. The boy is almost used as a physical sense of the trouble in Johannesburg, especially with Kumalo's sister. She had him as a prostitute and a liquor lady and when Kumalo found them they were living in squalor. I think not giving him a name has the effect of making the boy a blank slate. He doesn't know the sins of his parents and now has a fresh start out in the country with his uncle. Now that his mom is gone he has nothing left to tie him back to that life, not even a name. This is a good idea because it shows that their is hope for the future.

Journal #8

I think putting a "book" within a book is an interesting literary element. It gives the effect of a new story while continuing the original one. In Alan Paton's case he even begins the two stories the same. What i like about it is that instead of a completely new story , the main character is entwined with Kumalo from the original story. For me this makes the book more interesting because it gives you something to think about and connect what you're reading to.

Journal #7

Teen suicide and the internet
http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/30/suicide-and-the-internet/?scp=1&sq=teen%20suicide&st=cse

Bullying and suicide
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/03/weekinreview/03schwartz.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=bullying%20and%20suicide&st=cse

Journal #6

An image that has been repeated throughout the book so far is prostitution. I think the author chose this to show the sexism and status of women in the current culture of the black community. A phrase that's constantly repeated is that no one comes back from Johannesburg. This just shows how dangerous and forlorn the outlook is for these people. Something else that seems to repeat a lot is the fact that young black boys are killing old white women. Im not sure if this a one sided comment or if it actually happens all the time, but either way this is not good. It means a generation is growing up murderers and thugs.