Cry, the Beloved Country Characters

When we try to pin down a personality for our main character Stephen Kumalo, it's actually kind of difficult. Who is this guy? We know that he is a Christian man of faith, that he is a priest, that...

Father Vincent is a young, "rosy-cheeked" (1.11.7) English priest who lives at the Mission House with Msimangu. (We're emphasizing that he's rosy-cheeked because that is how is described when he fi...

Absalom is Kumalo's only child, and he's also one of the main reasons that Kumalo arrives in Johannesburg in the first place: Kumalo wants to track down the son who has stopped writing home to Ndot...

The Reverend Theophilus Msimangu's first name comes from the Ancient Greek meaning "friend of God" (source). This name makes total sense for Msimangu's character. After all, he's a wise and holy ma...

John Kumalo is our Kumalo's little brother. He owns a shop in Johannesburg, but his real pride and joy is his politicking. He gives rousing speeches about taking back what white employers owe to th...

Gertrude is Kumalo's little sister—much littler, in fact, since she is twenty-five years and a whole generation younger than Kumalo. Before the beginning of the novel, Gertrude's husband left her...

Absalom's lady friend shares some characteristics with Gertrude, Kumalo's sister. She has had a number of different boyfriends, none of whom were actually legally married to her (though she refers...

A reformatory is like a reform school or a detention center for youths. This "young man" is a white guy who works at the reform school where Absalom was placed after first getting into trouble with...

James Jarvis owns a wealthy farm accurately named "High Place" in the hills above Ndotsheni. Like Kumalo, Jarvis travels to Johannesburg because of family tragedy: his son, Arthur, is Absalom's sho...

We find out about Arthur Jarvis's shooting long before we know for sure that his father James Jarvis owns the farm next to Ndotsheni or that it's Absalom who broke into Arthur's house and killed hi...

John HarrisonOkay, this family relation is kind of complicated: John Harrison is Mary Jarvis's brother. Mary Jarvis is Arthur Jarvis's widow. So we guess he's, like, James Jarvis's son-in-law? Sort...