Attitude and behavior are affected by many different factors, such as
             parents, teachers, peers, and our self-image. Stereotypes are a very good
             example of this. Ideas about stereotypes are often activated spontaneously
             and without awareness. One's self-image is often developed by the way in
             which they think that they may be stereotyped or may subconsciously
             stereotype others. Racial minorities, handicapped people, social class, and
             gender are just a few of the people that are commonly stereotyped.
             Cry, The Beloved Country is a novel that speaks out against racial
             intolerance and its bitter effects.1 The main issue of the novel is racial
             discrimination in South Africa. The author, Alan Paton, conveys very well
             how he thinks Afrikaners came to perceive blacks as dangerous and to fear
             them enough to want to establish a system of racial segregation. Paton
             explains that some whites struggle with their own consciences over racial
             The main character in Cry, The Beloved Country is Stephen Kumalo, a
             humble village priest. In the beginning of the novel, he leaves to search for
             his son Absalom, who is seemingly adrift in the white man's world of
             Johannesburg. In the process of his search, he undergoes many great
             changes, most dealing with his self-image and the way he perceives the
             white people. Towards the end of the novel, Kumalo tries to restore his
             village and help the suffering natives in it. He gets much help from the white
             people, and it is then that he develops different attitudes and feelings toward
             Absalom Kumalo, the son of Stephen Kumalo kills a white man while in
             Johannesburg because he is scared of the white people. He has destroyed
             his own life because he feels that he is discriminated against by everyone in
             Stephen Kumalo's sister, Gertrude Kumalo, was forced into prostitution
             by the ruthless conditions of Johannesburg. The ...