The book I read for the second book report is "Cry, The Beloved Country", by Alan Paton. This story is about Reverend Stephen Kumalo received a letter from Reverend Msimangu, a good man in a church in Johannesburg, saying that Kumalo's sister, Gertrude, was sick in Johannesburg. After he went to Johannesburg, he found out that Gertrude drinks a lot, and was a prostitude. His son, Absalom, who also went to Johannesburg, killed a white man and tried to hide from police. Finally, they all confessed, Kumalo was able to bring Gertrude back to Ndotsheni, but Absalmo was sentenced to hang by court. The story was told by a third person. It takes place in South Africa during the period that the South Africans still practice the segregation between white man and the native people. Some natives tried hard to gain power in the government. They forget their tradition, they hate the white man, and become corrupt when they have power. The forms of conflict in this book include only man versus another man.

The main character (protagonist) in the story is Stephen Kumalo. He is a well-respected, and honest father in a church in a very poor village. He acts and speaks very politely, and is very thankful. When he first met Msimangu, they soon became friends. Msimangu helped him a lot in searching for his sick sister, and his troubled son. He is also a man with perseverance, for he never stopped to run from town to town with his new met friend to search for his hidden son. His attitude toward the white man is very neutral, that is, he judge a person by what the person did, but not what race he/she is. He is very good in persuading and teaching reasons to the others. He made his sister and son tell the truth about what bad things they actually did in Johannesburg, and told them to confess. He is a responsible person. He would not ignore the girl that had a baby with his son. Instead, he take her back to Ndotsheni, and take care of the baby and her. In the story, his friendship with Jarvis, a white man who lives in the same village, was remarkable. Before they know each other very well, they just greet each other when Jarvis and his son rode passed his church. Kumalo's son later killed Jarvis's son. They met in Johannesburg, and Kumalo regret for his son's act. At the end, these two man come together, and contributed to the recovery of the Ndotsheni's farm land. I feel pity for Kumalo, for this old man has a very unfair ending. He lost his son just because his son betrayed by friends in court, but he is a strong man, though, he lived on with his family.

James Jarvis is a very unusual man in the story. He is also very old, but very rich. He lives in Ndotsheni, too. He is a very generous man. He gives milk to the black children, helps to build a new church for blacks, allows others to use his own river, and hired an agricultural demostrator to teach Ndotsheni people to farm and avoid dryness. He gets along pretty well with black people. The most important relationship between him and other characters is with Stephen Kumalo. He is not a man who hates black, in fact he tries to help the black. His son, Arthur Jarvis, was a famous man who studies about the causes of crimes conducted by natives. James Jarvis was very proud of his son. After Arthur killed by Kumalo's son, he still doesn't hate Kumalo and black people. It's very incredible that a man could control the anger toward the killer of his own son, and continued to cooperate with the killer's father in improving the town. He respects the facts, and judge a person by what he did. I think he is a very great man. It was not easy to have a white man that shows sympathy of the poor blacks in South Africa.

Another character in the story is Stephen Kumalo's brother, John Kumalo. He is a famous black politician in Johannesburg in the story. He is very rich and has great power. He is very selfish, and hates every white man. He put all the responsibilities of the native unfortunates on the white man. He aimlessly call for strikes, and failed many times, causing many deaths. His main goal is to lead the black people to resist the whites. All white men are enemies to them, no matter what did they do to help them. He is good in fighting in the court, and he tells his son to give false statement in court to save his own life. Stephen Kumalo finally cut the relationship with this cold-hearted and selfish brother. In my opinion, he really should be condemned. His character is tainted by hatred.

The conflict in the story is whether whites and blacks can work together and help each other to make a better South Africa. When Stephen Kumalo was searching for his son in Johannesburg, he found out that his son had a chance to correct himself, and be a good man. A warm-hearted white man who was in charge of the prison released him earlier than he supposed to stay, because he had good record in the prison, and the crime he committed was not so serious. The white man gave him a job after he left the prison. He even married a girl and had a baby with the girl. Unfortunately, he went back to his bad companions, left the girl, and killed Arthur Jarvis accidentally when he broke into Jarvis's house with his companions.

Later, Absalmo Kumalo was arrested by police, and tried in the court. A white lawyer defended him in the court, the white man "took the case for God". His companions, including John Kumalo's son, betrayed him, because they wants to save themselves. His father told him to confess, and he told the truth in the court. However, the other two accused told the court that they were not even in the scene when the murder happens. The court sentenced Absalmo guilty, and to be hanged if there's no mercy, and the other two accused not guilty.

After the trial, Stephen Kumalo was surely sad. Before he returned to Ndotsheni, he went to his brother's office, and discussed about the case with him. His brother got mad at him, and angrily drive him out of his office. He also went to James Jarvis's living place in Johannesburg, to say sorry to him. The two old man agreed that this is the matter of their sons. They should not have any conflict because of this. After they both went back to Ndotsheni, they began work together to restore the fertile land, and forget that matter.

At the end, the white lawyer who "took the case for God" sent a letter to Stephen Kumalo, saying that there will be no mercy on his son's murdering case. Kumalo comforted by the people in Ndotsheni, and recovered. He started to find resolution for the long drought land. James Jarvis decided to help Kumalo by hiring an agricultural demonstrater to teach them farming skills and redirect his own river to the farm land, to relief the drought. This shows that black and white can work together without hating each other. In the United States, there's so many minority groups living in it. It would be good when all races can work together, without discriminating each other.

I like this book, because the story is very touching, and the characterization is very good. It showed me that friendship can help a person to endure a tragedy. We should never hold any biased feeling toward any person. We should judge a person by what he does and personalities, not by his race, sex, nationality... because you never know who is going to be your friend before you actually know him. I would recommend this book to my brother and friends. They can learn a lot from this book.