It is only as one grows up that one learns that there are other things here than sun and gold and oranges.
Paraphrase - It is saying that when you are a child you don't understand the troubles of the world, but only see the good in life. Whereas, when you get older you are exposed to all of the troubles of the world.
No second Johannesburg is needed upon the earth. One is enough.
Paraphrase - This quote is saying that Johannesburg is a city full of crime and corruption. No more corruption is needed in the world. Therefore, we should not wish there was another city like Johannesburg, filled with gold.
1."This thing that is the heaviest thing of all my years, is the heaviest thing of all your years also." - Stephen Kumalo
This just shows the weight of the death of their sons for both fathers. It is hard for Kumalo to admit that his son killed Arthur. The death of their sons creates a bond between both Jarvis and Stephen.
2."No one calls for silence, though the Judge is not quite gone. For who can stop the heart from breaking?" (Paton 237.)
Paraphrase - This is a tough question that is asked after Absalom is sentenced to death. It asks who can stop the heart from breaking and that is tough to answer because no one truly can. It's only within someone's own heart that they can truly mend and h
3. Pain and suffering, they are a secret. Kindness and love, they are a secret. But I have learned that kindness and love can pay for pain and suffering. (Ch 30)
Paraphrase - This quote demonstrates the importance of perseverance and hope in times of struggle. Although you will go through hard times, good things can and will come from it.
4. "There are those who can be moved by the sound of the voice alone. There are those who remember the first day they heard it as if it were today, who remember their excitement, and the queer sensations of their bodies as though electricity were passing
Paraphrase - This quote comes from a chapter in which John Kumalo is demanding a larger share of gold for black workers. The people in the crowd are incredibly moved by his words, even if they gain action. To have someone fighting for them and advocating
1. (page 277) "Indeed it was true what Jarvis had said, that this would be no ordinary storm.
Paraphrase - What is being said by Jarvis is that this storm will be different compared to other storms. This storm won't just rain and go away, this storm is going to bring massive destruction, just like all the discrimination has done in the past. Also,
2. (page) "Somewhere down here upon earth men must come together, think something, do something.
Paraphrase - This quote means that white and black men have to eventually come and work together to start working for the country to restore it to its original beauty.
3. (page 265) "Indeed a man is always so when another brings heavy matters to him, matters that he himself has many times considered, finding no answers to them.
Paraphrase - Stephen Kumalo goes to the chief to talk about certain matters. He interrupts him when he shouldn't be and struggles to bring up the issue. Stephen expresses his belief that the schools should teach about how to care for the land. The chief r
4. (page 312) "But when the dawn will come, of our emancipation, from the fear of bondage and the bondage of fear, why, that is a secret.
Paraphrase - One day, the native population will no longer be 'enslaved' by the white rule and apartheid laws and the whites will not be caught up in the fear of native crime.
The humble man reached in his pocket for his sacred book and began to read. It was this world alone that was certain." - (44)
Kumalo takes his Bible out and reads it. It is the only thing he can wholeheartedly trust in.
It is fear that rules this land (56).
The fear is present everywhere in South Africa. The black people are afraid of the white people and the white community is afraid of the native crime.
All roads lead to Johannesburg. Through the long nights, the trains pass to Johannesburg. The lights of the swaying coach fall on the cutting-sides, on the grass and the stones of country that sleeps. Happy the eyes that can close" (Paton 40)
To many people, the only way out of poverty is to travel to a large city to get work. The city that all people go to is Johannesburg. However, everything is not as great as it seems.
4. "The tragedy is not that things are broken. The tragedy is that they have not mended again" (Paton 56).
Paraphrase - The bridge between blacks and whites is broken and has been broken for as long as the people can remember. The breaking of the bridge has already happened long, long ago. Thus, the tragedy of it all is not that the bridge between the people i
Page 71 "I see only one hope for our country, and that is when white men and black men, desiring neither power nor money, but desiring only the good of their country, come together to work for it
Paraphrase - This quote explains how much black men want equality. They want to be heard and understood but there is no hope, for the white men are not willing to band together and work with a white man to make the two races equal and thus make their coun
2. Msimangu watched him go up the little path. He looked very old. He himself turned and walked back to the mission. There are times, no doubt, when God seems no more to be about the world. 105
Paraphrase - This quote perfectly describes the mental processes that are occurring in the minds of both Msimangu and Kumalo. Both are tired, afraid, and frustrated, and this leads them to question the benevolence, and even existence, of the Christian god
3. Page 83 "All roads lead to Johannesburg.
Paraphrase - All of Kumalo's family went to Johannesburg and so many people go to Johannesburg that they cannot find housing and turn to crime. No matter what you do before it will lead you to Johannesburg.
4. Page 111 "Cry, the beloved country, for the unborn child that is the inheritor of our fear. Let him not love the earth too deeply. Let him not laugh too gladly when the water runs through his fingers, nor stand too silent when the setting sun makes red
Paraphrase: Native people in South Africa are afraid of their land being taken away by white people. Therefore, they try not to get too attached to the beautiful things where they live because it could be taken away from them at any time. Kumalo knows the
1. Page 120 "The tribe was broken, and would be mended no more
Paraphrase - Stephen Kumalo realized how badly the Europeans have changed South Africa, and that it cannot be fixed, everyone else must change to fit society.
2. Page 140 "When the storm threatens, a man is afraid for his house, said Father Vincent in that symbolic language that is like the Zulu tongue. But when the house is destroyed there is something to do. About a storm, he can do nothing, but he can rebuil
Paraphrase - There are some things that you cannot change but there is also some you can change. This relates to how Kumalo cannot change the fact that Absalom killed Jarvis. But Kumalo can change the community after the fact.
3. Page 140 "My friend, your anxiety turned to fear, and your fear turned to sorrow. But sorrow is better than fear. For fear impoverishes always, while sorrow may enrich.
Paraphrase - Father Vincent explains that fear is not good, but sorrow can be good. Lessons can be learned from sorrow, and people can move forward from it, but fear only holds back. Fear restricts, while sorrow can lead to growth.
4. He is a stranger, he said, I cannot touch him, I cannot reach him. I see no shame in him, no pity for those he has hurt. Tears come out of his eyes, but it seems that he weeps only for himself, not for his wickedness, but for his danger.
Paraphrase - This passage explains that it appears that Absalom did not feel any shame or compassion for what he has done. The only emotion that is shown is about his own suffering, it seems as if he does not care for others, but only himself.
'I suppose so. I wish now that I'd known more of him. You see, the things that he did, I've never had much to do with that sort of thing.'
'Nor I either, James. His life was quite different from ours'
'It was a good life by all accounts.'
He sat, she lay
Paraphrase - James Jarvis and his wife are grieving that their son has died and are talking about how his life had been different from what they had thought. They start to realize how incredible of a person he actually was.
When the whites first came to South Africa it was permissible to develop the resources with the help of labor they could find - basically to use unskilled men for unskilled work but it was not permissible to keep men unskilled for the sake of unskilled
This quote means that when the whites first arrived in Africa it was prominent to get resources through work with unskilled laborers. However, it was unethical to keep those laborers unskilled in order for them to keep doing the unskilled work.