Antagonist

Character Role Analysis

Injustice

The irony of Cry, the Beloved Country is that Absalom actually shoots someone, but he is not the book's antagonist or villain. Instead, Absalom is just another victim of South Africa's rapid urbanization, high unemployment, and poor opportunities and education for black Africans.

Instead, the real enemy in Cry, the Beloved Country is something more general: injustice itself. After all, since the novel preaches forgiveness and understanding for everyone who does wrong, it makes sense that it avoids making an individual villain out of any one of the characters. The real issue is the social conditions that make it possible for people like Absalom to go bad; it's these social issues that the book wants us to fight.