Essay/Discussion Questions:

We are unable to supply an answer key to these study questions. Original thought is looked for in answering many of these questions for which there is no "one right answer". We hope these questions will assist parents in discussing the book with their children. Those who haven't read the book themselves could still discuss these questions and ideas in a general way with their children, have their children discuss it with others who have read the book, or seek summaries of the book online to better understand it.

Chapter One

1. What are the contrasting images presented by Alan Paton?

Chapter Two

1. Why does Pastor Stephen Kumalo not want to open his letter?
2. How do we know the delivery girl is very poor?
3. Which family members (of Kumalo) live in Johannesburg?
4. What is the "St. Chad's money" and how much money is involved?
5. What is the post office book?

Chapter Three

1. What is the speed of the train (give evidence)?
2. What is Kumalo's greatest worry at this point?
3. Who travels by train in Africa at this point?
4. What are Kumalo's fears?
5. Of what is Kumalo certain?
6. Describe Kumalo in a single adjective.

Chapter Four

1. Why does Paton refer to the train as a 'toy train'?
2. Why do the people on the train chuckle at Kumalo?
3. For the second time, Paton writes: "through hills lovely beyond any singing of it". What does he mean?
4. What's Kumalo's first reaction to the big city?
5. How is Kumalo cheated?

Chapter Five

1. What is the sickness of the land that Kumalo describes?
2. Who is afraid in Johannesburg?
3. Why was Gertrude in Johannesburg?
4. What has become of Kumalo's brother?
5. "Everywhere it is so. The peace of God escapes us". (Page 24) What is your reaction?

Chapter Six

1. What's Gertrude's first reaction when she sees her brother? Why?
2. How does Kumalo feel?
3. Who knows where Absalom is?
4. Describe Gertrude's child.
5. Kumalo says "one day in Johannesburg and already the tribe was being rebuilt, the house and soul restored". What is meant by this statement?

Chapter Seven

1. Describe Kumalo's brother.
2. How many streets are there in Johannesburg? What is meant by this saying?
3. Why did John stop writing home?
4. John says that the tribal society in Africa is breaking down. In his opinion, what else is, too?
5. What is mined in the mines outside Johannesburg?
6. Who did the work in the mines and who made the profits?
7. What language did John ask to converse in? Why?
8. Why did the landlady and her husband not like Absalom?

Chapter Eight

1. "Every bus is the right bus". What is the joke here?
2. Why does the protester not want Kumalo and Msimangu to get on the bus?
3. "That man has a silver tongue". What does this saying mean?
4. Why was the landlady trembling?
5. What does Msimangu do to convince the landlady to confide in him?
6. What does the landlady reveal?
7. What does the taxi driver tell Msimangu?
8. At the end of this chapter, what most impresses Kumalo?

Chapter Nine

1. What caused Shantytown to develop?
2. What is the housing situation before Shantytown?
3. What happens after the white men come to Shantytown?

Chapter Ten

1. How much education did Gertrude get?
2. What gift did Kumalo buy for his nephew?
3. What did his nephew bring to mind for Kumalo?
4. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil, if Thou art with me". Explain this reference, and it's context.
5. Were blacks welcomed as nurses and doctors?
6. What tragic news does Kumalo receive about his son?
7. What did Absalom tell the authorities about his family? Why?
8."The real question is whether he will care for them, and lead a decent life". Explain this reference.
9. How was Absalom's behaviour in the reformatory?
10. What happens at Absalom's house?

Chapter Eleven

1. What are the headlines in the newspaper saying about Arthur Jarvis?
2. Who is Arthur Jarvis, and what kind of work is he involved in?
3. What is Kumalo feeling at this point?
4. Why can't Kumalo pray?
5. "There are times, not doubt, when God seems no more to be about the world". Explain.

Chapter Twelve

1. The white people are concerned about lack of police protection. What are the blacks concerned with?
2. Out of ten black children, how many are in school? Only one in ten children will reach which grade?
3. Annually, how many natives are sent to prison?
4. What reforms do white churches cry out for? And, what do Afrikaaner churches want?
5. Who are the police searching for?

Chapter Thirteen

1. Why does Kumalo say 'the tribe is broken and can be mended no more?"
2. What impressed Kumalo with the blind school?
3. How is the sermon so applicable to Kumalo's present circumstances?

Chapter Fourteen

1. Who brings the news about Absalom?
2. Who else was involved with the crime?
3. What's Absalom's two excuses for what happened?
4. What cruelty does John do to his brother?
5. In his despair, who does Kumalo turn to?

Chapter Fifteen

1. What counsel does the reformatory worker give Kumalo?
2. Father Vincent says that 'fear is a journey, a terrible journey, but sorrow is at least an arriving". Make an attempt to translate what these words mean.
3. Describe Arthur Jarvis' family. What work did Jarvis do for the blacks?
4. What does Father Vincent tell Kumalo to go and do?

Chapter Sixteen

1. Why did Kumalo take the train?
2. Why did Kumalo choose this time, specifically, to travel?
3. Why does Kumalo repeatedly ask the girl if she wants to marry Absalom?
4. Where does Kumalo propose to take the girl?
5. How old is the girl?
6. What has taken away Kumalo's pain?

Chapter Seventeen

1. What favour does Kumalo ask of Mrs. Lithebe?
2. How much of Kumalo's money is left?
3. What is Absalom's mental state now?
4. What have Absalom's friends done?
5. Just as his father is leaving, who is Absalom's next visitor?
6. Who is Mr. Carmichael?
7. How much will the legal fees be?

Chapter Eighteen

1. Why does Paton repeat the introductory sentences at this point?
2. Who lives at High Place?
3. What two problems are on Jarvis' mind?
4. Jarvis wrestles with questions- if a black has more education, then what will result? And, if the blacks were allowed to farm more land, then what would be the result?
5. "This was a view a man could look at without tiring"(pg. 131). How does Jarvis feel about the land?
6. What had Jarvis wanted his son to do for a living?
7. What was the opinion of Jarvis' father towards inter-marriages?
8. Why didn't the police give the bad news to Mrs. Jarvis first?

Chapter Nineteen

1. Who is John Harrison?
2. What was Arthur working on before he was killed?
3. Did father and son agree on race relations questions?
4. Whose house does James Jarvis and his wife stay in?
5. Who sent letters of condolence, and how many were sent?
6. Which was more important to Arthur- making money, or speaking the truth?
7. Jarvis is touched by a comparison that Harrison makes between his son and a _____________?
8. How does Arthur's mom feel after she learns more about her son's life?

Chapter Twenty

1. What is Arthur's home filled with?
2. Arthur's writing talks about the plight of the blacks in South Africa. He writes that -
the whites are keeping the blacks unskilled so that they can be used to work in the ______
the whites have kept the blacks ________, in order to have a ready supply of cheap labour
the whites believe that they can preserve the tribal system by enforcing the policy of ________
3. Which American politician had a great influence on Arthur?
4. What does James take from his son's house?

Chapter Twenty-One

1. Who, and how many, came to the funeral?
2.Who was the only witness to the murder?
3. After the funeral, Harrison goes off on a diatribe. He says that South Africa wouldn't exist without the __________?
4. Where does Jarvis ask John to take him?
5. The murder witness is now conscious. What does he reveal?
6. What does Jarvis, and his wife, read?
7. Which book does Jarvis turn to, to help explain his son's reasoning?

Chapter Twenty Two

1. The chapter opens with Paton setting the scene for ________?
2. How does Absalom plead?
3. How does his cousin plead?
4. Why was the crime committed on that day, and time?
5. Who hit the servant with the iron bar?
6. What was special about the iron bar?
7. How did the police find the murder weapon (gun)?
8. How is Absalom captured?
9. Who is also in court that day?

Chapter Twenty Three

1. What excitement puts the trial on the back burner?

Chapter Twenty Four

1. What's Jarvis' first reaction when he reads his son's manuscript?

Chapter Twenty Five

1. Who does Jarvis and his wife go to visit on their day off from court?
2. Who knocks at the door when Jarvis is alone at the house?
3. How does the visitor seem?
4. How does Kumalo describe Arthur?"___________________"

Chapter Twenty Six

1. Who is speaking in the square?
2. What is he asking for in this speech?
3. What is the opinion of the Afrikaneer police about the speaker?
4. What is the opinion of the native police about the speaker?
5. John Kumalo does not want to go to jail because there is "no ____in prison".
6. Why does Msimangu thank God that John Kumalo is corrupt?
7. Who else is in the crowd?
8. Where did the strikes occur?

Chapter Twenty Seven

1. What is the shocking newspaper headline?
2. What was hidden from Stephen Kumalo that night?
3. What revelation does Gertrude make to Mrs. Lithebe?
4. Who agrees to raise Gertrude's son?

Chapter Twenty Eight

1. What sentence does the judge pass on Absalom?
2. What sentence does the judge pass on the other two accused men?
3. What long-standing custom is broken at the end of this chapter?

Chapter Twenty Nine

1. Why was Absalom so hopeful when he saw his father enter the prison?
2. What present, and name, does Absalom give to his unborn child?
3. Why does John Kumalo offer his visitor tea?
4. Why is John so angry with his brother?
5. How does Harrison feel about the sentence the judge imposed on Absalom?
6. What does Jarvis give to Harrison? What's the significance of it?
7. What announcement does Msimangu make at the party?
8. What parting gift does Msimangu give to Kumalo?
9. Why surprise does Kumalo get on his last morning in Johannesburg?

Chapter Thirty

1. Who meets Kumalo at the train station?
2. What is the reaction of the village people to Kumalo's arrival?
3. What is the first stop that Kumalo makes upon arriving at his village?
4. Why does Kumalo feel compelled to resign as pastor and leave his village?
5. How does Kumalo's wife plan to spend the Post Office money?

Chapter Thirty-One

1. What was Kumalo's prayer for his village?
2. What idea does Kumalo present to the village chief?
3. Who does Kumalo next visit?
4. Who is the little boy that comes galloping into the story? Why does Kumalo laugh at him?
5. What is deposited at Kumalo's doorstep that night?

Chapter Thirty Two

1. Who were the four letters from?
2. What does the lawyer's letter say?
3. What does Absalom's letter say?
4. What does Msimangu's letter say?
5. What is happening with the weather at this point?
6. Who is sitting on the horse in the distance?
7. What do the men do with the sticks and flags?
8. Where does Jarvis and Kumalo go to escape the rain?
9. Why does Jarvis keep shifting in his pew?

Chapter Thirty Three

1. Where has Jarvis gone?
2. Who does Kumalo think will save the village?
3. Why does Jarvis's grandson visit Kumalo again?
4. Kumalo says that when the boy leaves the village, something "___________________".
5.Who is Napoleon Letsitsi, and why is he an "angel from God"?
6. Who is the 'small angel of God"?

The last three chapters

1.What news mars confirmation day?
2. Why does Kumalo wrestle with sending a letter of condolence?
3. What sad news does the bishop bring to Kumalo?
4. What incident changes the bishop's mind?
5. What improvements does the agricultural demonstrator make in the village?
6. Who does Napoleon say that he really works for?
7. Where does Kumalo go the day before his son is to be executed? Who does he meet?
8. Dawn comes for Kumalo on the mountain. Dawn also comes for ________________?

Questions courtesy of Kathie McGann