More on the Beloved Country- the mountain

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The ultimate redemption story of the many found in Cry, the Beloved Country was that of Old Jarvis and Stephen Kumalo. I really like how Patton took a break from the story line that followed Kumalo and Absalom and at the beginning of Book II he focused solely on the Jarvis's side of the tragedy. This way it makes the reader even more sympathetic toward the Jarvis's just as the reader begins to really sympathize and root for Absalom. It is yet another way Patton shows how situations are complicated and can't be oversimplified. There is not always a right or wrong answer. Also by showing how the murder hurt Kumalo so deeply comparing him to the apathetic John Kumalo it makes the story of Jarvis and Kumalo even more touching. Patton really carves out the character of each person in the novel by using foils; John and Stephen, Harrison and Old Jarvis, Gertrude and Absalom's wife, Mrs. Lithebe and Mrs.Kumalo. Each person is compared to the other to establish how they could react and how they do. When Old Jarvis is compared to Harrison it is clear how he could be bitter and negatively react to Kumalo. The young Jarvis is compared to Jesus and to Abraham Lincoln, his death facilitated the possible coming together of Old Jarvis and Kumalo. When Old Jarvis helped the people of Ndotsheni with the milk, the land expert, and the new church he models his actions after his own son. Through the short communication that Kumalo and Jarvis have they establish a very profound relationship. Kumalo and the community mourn with Jarvis, Jarvis mourns with Kumalo. In the most memorable quote of the book, "Is there mercy?" Jarvis shows mercy and empathy. At the end of the novel the two were at the mountain together. The mountain is a symbol of being in the presence of God (allusion to Moses going to the mountain to be in the presence of God, and then receiving the Ten Commandments). Together they have experienced redemption and end together at the mountainside.