CRY, THE BELOVED COUNTRY

By the end of this unit, students will be able to: analyze the significance of the novel within the context of South African history and politics; trace the development of complex and intertwining themes found in the novel, including the injustices created by a white-controlled society in a majority black country, the breakdown of the tribal culture and the traditional African family, the erosion and destruction of the land, the causes and impact of "native crime," the rural migration to the cities, the corrosive effects of fear, the importance of Christian charity, and love as the hope for personal and societal redemption; identify the characteristics of a social realism novel; analyze the use of the omniscient third-person narrator; analyze the use of intercalary chapters and other literary devices; recognize plot components such as exposition, conflict, rising, action, climax, and resolution; and analyze the significance of the novel’s title and its relationship to the novel’s central themes. 132 pages. ©2008.