Cry, the Beloved Country: Book II, Chapter 20 Summary & Analysis

The next day, the police take James to his son Arthur’s house. There, he begins to go through his many papers and books. He marvels at the many invitations his son received, the fullness of his library shelves. He notices that Arthur had owned many books by Abraham Lincoln. He finds a letter indicating that Arthur was the many-time president of the African Boys’ Club.

James discovers a few pages of a manuscript that Arthur was working on, in which he decried the mining practices so typical in South Africa, the exploitation of laborers and the destruction of their families, leading directly to the corruption of the black population’s structure and the creation of criminals. He also points out that setting aside not enough land for a majority of the population is a dishonest way to go about solving the problem.

After he is finished, James meditates on the text for a while, before getting up and looking at the books again. He picks up a book and reads through Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, and then takes the book with him. As he is leaving, he accidently goes through the corridor where Arthur was killed.