Cry, the Beloved Country: John and Stephen Psychologists often battle on the idea of "Nature vs. Nurture", or the idea that people's character are decided by either genetic inheritance or their surroundings. In Cry, the Beloved Country, two brothers, John and Stephen Kumalo, are shown to have distinctly different values, although they are of the same family. Alan Paton, through his juxtaposition of John Kumalo and Stephen Kumalo, provides a correlation between a person's environment and a person's character. John Kumalo, a shopkeeper and politician, shares few characteristics in common with his brother Stephen Kumalo. John Kuma