Alan Paton, South African author and anti-apartheid activist, wrote the novel Cry, the Beloved Country. The novel's publication in 1948 was just before South Africa institutionalized racial segregation. under apartheid. Paton addresses the destruction of the tribal system in South Africa due to white colonization using the novel as a means to illustrate its damage. Throughout the novel, we are exposed to the many problems resulting from colonization. Communities are collapsing, the land is bare, people are starving and families are broken. These fictional communities and people are based on the real problem Paton saw in South Africa. White concern about "native criminality" is the result of changes in social conditions. This change is responsible for the destruction of the tribal structure and the break with the traditional way of life. Changes related to colonization led to the problem of black people leaving their communities to join white people. The tribal system is destroyed by the loss of people to white will, the deterioration of morals, and the lack of community. The loss of people to Johannesburg, the representation of the white male world is one of the main causes of the loss of the tribal system. as Stephen Kumalo and the priests discussed at the Mission House in Sophiatown, "the sickness of the land, of the broken tribe and the broken home of the young men and maidens has flown away and forgotten their customs" ( 52). Once members of the black community leave for Johannesburg, they never return. In chapter two we learn that Stephen Kumalo's brother John went to Johannesburg to try his luck, his sister Gertrude followed him in search of her husband, and his own son went looking for them both , but failed... ... middle of paper ...... takes responsibility as a white man to improve the situation in South Africa. Stephen and James' work to restore order and take individual responsibility is a good start, but it is not a complete answer, as the agricultural sector explains: "we can restore this valley for those who are here , but when the children grow up, there will be too many again. . Some will still have to go” (302). Cry, the Beloved Country was Paton's call to action to whites and blacks that the answer to their problem was to come together and accept one another, but the novel is also a warning. Paton leaves us with the warning that time may be running out, as Msimangu expressed: "I have a great fear in my heart, that one day, when they turn to love, they will find that we we are turned towards hatred (311). Alan. Cry, Beloved Country. New York: Scribner Paperback Fiction, 1995. Print.