Chapter One: The first chapter of Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton begins with the description of a road that runs from the village of Ixopo to the hill and then leads to Carisbrooke and towards the valleys of Africa. The grass is rich and tangled, holy ground that must be guarded and guarded for it guards and protects men. Analysis: Alan Paton begins Cry, the Beloved Country with a description of the lands surrounding Ixopo, the village where pastor (and protagonist) Stephen Kumalo lives. Paton makes it rural and isolated, which is important in developing Kumalo's character and his relationship to the larger urban area of ​​Johannesburg where he will soon find himself. The style of this first chapter is grandiose, equating the survival of the soil with the survival of the human race, but it serves an important function, linking the life and health of the country (in both directions) to health. of its inhabitants and, by extension, of the characters of the novel.Chapter two: A small child brings a letter to the umfundisi (pastor) of the church, Stephen Kumalo, who offers the little girl something to eat. This letter comes from Johannesburg and can therefore come either from his sister Gertrude, who is twenty-five years younger than him, or from his brother John, a carpenter, or from his only child Absalom, who left and never returned. Stephen and his wife hesitate to open the letter, thinking that it may be from their son, but instead it is from the Reverend Theophilus Msimangu, who tells Stephen that Gertrude is very ill and advises him to come to the Mission House from Sophiatown, Johannesburg, to help him. Kumalo sighs and tells his wife to get him the money for Absalom's education in St. Chad, because now that Absalom has gone to Johannesburg, he will never come back. His wife told Stephen to take the whole twelve pounds, five shillings and seven pence, just in case. Analysis: This chapter serves as an introduction to Cry, the Beloved Country's protagonist, Pastor Stephen Kumalo, establishing his main conflicts and character. features. From his first meeting with the little child, Paton establishes Kumalo as a kind but powerful and respected man within his community despite his poverty, as shown by the small savings he and his wife had gathered for their son's education..