“Africa” is not even an African word. There is no certainty about its origin, but it could be related to the Latin word abrica, meaning "sunny", or the Greek word aphrike, meaning "not cold". It seems more likely that it comes from the Greek word; “aphrike” is the combination of “phrike” (cold and horror) with an “a” placed in front to give it the opposite meaning. So it means a land free from cold and horror. It's such an ironic name for a country where people live in hunger and fear. Conditions in South Africa in the mid-1900s were even worse than today. Alan Paton addresses these questions in his novel Cry, the Beloved Country, published in 1948. Paton uses two contrasting locations to present his vision of South Africa while suggesting solutions. The desolate village of Ndotsheni and the chaotic city of Johannesburg seem different at first glance, but when you analyze them, you see that the two places have strong similarities. Recurring themes include poor land use, tensions between urban and rural societies, and the integration of fear and racism into their lives. Ndotsheni is not taken care of and the land is rotting and not covered with grass. The cows overgraze and the corn doesn't even reach the height of a man. The natives were forced to live on the little land that the whites gave them back. The land could not support the people and the people did not know how to support themselves, so people left the villages to seek to start a new life in the cities. Rumor has it that when we go to Johannesburg, we never hear from him again. The examples of Absalom, Gertrude, and John show that people wander around the city with no one to turn to. Johannes...... middle of paper ......tes fail to address the causes of these crimes and instead of helping the natives, they turn to stricter segregation and push them back further further away. They also fear a strike by local miners, as it would cause their entire economy to collapse. Rather than reform, whites allow themselves to be consumed by greed and continue to exercise power over the natives while ignoring their reasonable arguments. Although Ndotsheni is completely segregated and one can live there their whole life without interacting with anyone of another race, there is also fear. We are afraid for the earth which is dying and for the children who are dying. They fear for the people who left the village for the black hole of Johannesburg. Paton's message is that all these problems are generated by fear and that to remove this fear, whites and natives must see beyond their differences and join hands..