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Cry, the Beloved Country

Stephen Kumalo is a very likable, well-rounded character. He is very innocent and is sometimes too kind and trusting. He is just your everyday kind, old man. As a preacher and a man of God, he is very kind and generous, which is not always a good thing. Kumalo’s main character traits are innocence, humble, and trusting.

            Kumalo, as a preacher, is very innocent to what is going on around him. He didn’t know what was going on with his family when they were in Johannesburg. His sister was a prostitute, his son was a thief, and he had no idea. His innocence at times gets him into trouble, such as when he trusted a stranger with his money and got robbed. He was unaware of the crime and danger surrounding him because he never had to worry about those things in his small village. He was overwhelmed when he went to Johannesburg. These situations prove innocence is not always a good thing.

            Kumalo is very humble throughout most of the book. He is not cocky or overconfident. Being a preacher and having a strong faith in God, he tries to give glory to God, and repents when he becomes too proud and starts to lose his faith. He lets others know when he needs help and turns to others for advice. He turns to Msimangu and Father Vincent several times throughout the story, specifically when he starts to doubt his faith. He is not too proud to ask for help and is a great listener. This humbleness is one of the things that make Kumalo such a likable character in the story.

            Lastly, Kumalo is very trusting, and many times too trusting. As I mentioned earlier, he trusted the stranger with his money and got robbed. He was too trusting for his own good, and it got him into trouble. He wasn’t quite as quick to trust people after this situation, which was a good thing for him. After the robbery, people had to earn his trust. However, his willingness to trust people was not always a bad thing. He trusts his close friends and his family, which is great because he needs people in the big city whom he can trust. You could say his willingness to trust people is both a blessing and a curse.

            As you can see, Stephen Kumalo is just a humble, innocent, old man searching for his son in the big city of Johannesburg. He can be too innocent and trusting at times, but that is just part of who he is. These traits are what make him such a likable character in the story. You can’t help but like him. 

How I Learned to Read

I honestly cannot remember when I first learned to read. My best guess would be when I was about 3 or 4 years old. I remember when I was in kindergarten and I was reading several short stories a week. I was reading small novels by the time I was in 1^st grade. When I was in 2^nd grade I was already reading at a 7^th grade level! When I was in I think 3^rd grade I discovered the Harry Potter Series. I read at least the first 5 that year. I had completely finished the series when I was in 5^th grade!

When I was in elementary school and middle school, I was always reading trying to get the most A.R. points. It started in 3^rd grade when my teacher bought McDonalds for the person with the most A.R. points every week. I won that about 6 times that year. I continued to read all the time until the end of middle school. By that time, I think I had read every good series I could think of. I read Harry Potter, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Maximum Ride, The Chronicles of Narnia, and a lot more.

I think the last really good series I read was The Hunger Games. I read the first 2 in 7^th grade and the last one in 8^th grade. After I read the 3^rd book, I stopped reading almost completely, besides reading for school. I think having to read for school pretty much killed my love for reading. I have not read a book on my own in almost 3 years I think. Now I virtually hate reading because of having to read for school. Now when I read anything, instead of reading it and being interested, I immediately think of school. I really need to start reading again.

Greedy Humans

Greedy Humans

Humans are, by nature, greedy and self-centered. Some try hard not to be selfish, but many others don’t try at all. Generous people will go out of their way to be kind and helpful, while others either ignore people in need or take advantage of other people’s suffering. We see a fine example of selfish people in Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s short story “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings”.

            The couple in the story finds an old man with huge wings stuck in the mud. When they figure out that he is an angel, they decide to put him on a raft in the ocean with a little food. But when they see that the whole neighborhood comes to see him the next morning, they lock him in the chicken coop and charge people money to see him. They find an old angel and instead of helping him, they lock him in a chicken coop with no food to try and make a profit. Talk about selfish.

            If I found an old man face down in the mud, I don’t care if he’s an angel or not, I would try to help him. I believe that a lot of other people would, too. The couple just used him to get money to buy a new house. To me, that is just messed up.

            Humans need to learn to be more generous and care about other people. Would you have helped the old man, or would you use him to make a little money? A little something to think about, huh?

 http://salvoblue.homestead.com/wings.html