Cry the beloved country, by alan paton, is a book which tells the story of how james jarvis, a wealthy estate owner who, because of his own busy life, had to learn of the social degradation in south africa through the death of his only son. If arthur jarvis had never been killed, james jarvis would never have been educated by his sons writings, and stephen kumalo. When we first meet james jarvis, he knows little of his sons life. He doesn't know his son "was on a kind of a mission"(p. 140), And this is why when harrison says,"...we're scared stiff at the moment in johannesburg."( p. 140) James is sort of surprised and says,