Cry, the Beloved Country: Book I, Chapter 4 Summary & Analysis

The train passes through many towns and communities – some magnificent, some broken and sick. Then, Stephen changes trains and soon the names of the towns they are passing through become unfamiliar because they’re in Afrikaans, a language that he has never heard spoken. Around him, people talk about the mines. Stephen sees the gold mines, in the distance, and asks the other passengers about them. They explain how the mines work, and Stephen is thrilled by the newness of it. He asks if this is Johannesburg. The passengers laugh, and begin to describe the hugeness of Johannesburg. Stephen insists that this must be Johannesburg, as more and more building and vehicles and machines rush by the train. Then, one of the men points and shows Stephen Johannesburg. He sees buildings and glittering, confusing advertisements, and is filled with fear.

The train stops at the station, full of thousands of people. There is so much noise. Stephen sees a street full of cars, but remembering the child run over by the car, is afraid to cross it. He tries to cross, is almost hit by a bus, and retreats to a wall to pretend as if he’s waiting for someone. He feels like a child. He prays as he stands.

Suddenly, a young man approaches Stephen. The young man speaks to him in a language Stephen does not recognize. Then the young man switches to Stephen’s language, Zulu, and asks him where he wants to go. When Stephen tells him, the young man offers to buy Stephen a ticket from the ticket office while he waits in line. Stephen gives him some money and waits. After a while, he realized he doesn’t see the young man anymore. When he asks an older man where the ticket office is, the man explains that there is no ticket office, and that Stephen has been cheated. The man helps Stephen get to Mission House on the bus, where he arrives exhausted but grateful to be secure and safe.