Cry and Stranger

The early 20th century was a time of racial discrimination both in the United States and throughout the world. In South Africa, the apartheid intensified the struggle between the natives and whites, while in places like Algiers, minorities like Arabs were treated like second-class citizens. These injustices led to various works of literature showing what life was like in these areas. Two such works, Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton, which tells about a young African named Absalom who murders a white man, Arthur Jarvis, who is working to help the natives, and The Stranger by Albert Camus, which tells about a young man named Meursault who kills an Arab, emerged as major examples of society during this time. In both The Stranger and Cry, the Beloved Country, Camus and Paton depict characters who commit murder against people outside of their own social class, and while the results of these murders contain some similarities and some differences, both authors use the murders as a commentary in society.

The Stranger begins with Meursault learning of the death of his mother, something that would cause grief and sadness in most people, but upon hearing the news and attending his mother’s funeral, Meursault shows neither emotion nor any sign of sorrow over the loss of his own mother. This lack of emotion and disregard for the value of life is present when Meursault shoots and kills an Arab for no real reason and can be seen in the following quote from Meursault, “But everybody knows life isn’t worth living…men and women will naturally go on living-and for thousands of years.” At the time the novel is set, Arabs were of a much lower class than people like Meursault, and as a result the outcry over the Arab’s death is minimal. Meursault’s trial for murdering the Arab hardly focuses on the Arab’s death; rather its main focus is on Meursault’s character. Society is more concerned over the lack of remorse that Meursault displays than the fact that an actual person was killed.

While the public outcry over the murder of an Arab is minimal in The Stranger, this is not the case in Cry, the Beloved Country. At the time the novel is set, South Africa was in the middle of the apartheid, in which natives were discriminated against by many of the whites. However, some white people were working for reform and better treatment of the