Problems in Stephen Kumalo’s Family

CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS

The analysis of the study will focus on Stephen Kumalo’s family problem. There are two questions in problem formulation to answer in this section. The first is to find out the problem in Stephen Kumalo’s family as described in the novel. The second question is to find out Stephen Kumalos struggle to solve his family problem.

A. Problems in Stephen Kumalo’s Family

There is some tragedy in the novel. Based on title, it cries out for suffering parents, justice, an end to the justice, segregation, the dying land, a young man, a lady, and starving people. The tragedy of the young man and the lady is going to be told in this chapter. It becomes the part of Kumalo’s family problem. Suffering parents who work hard to look for their son is also told. In this part, problem in Stephen Kumalo’s family is going to be analyzed. Social background of Kumalo’s family is important to analyze. Structure of Stephen Kumalo’s family and his family members that are told in the story are also important to be recognized. Roles of each member in a family can influence the family life itself, such as father, mother, and children. Kinship or lineage can also determine very much in building a good relation and facing the problem in a family. Family also has its own ways or steps in facing and solving its problems. 39 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI Conflict always happens in a family life. Every family has their own problem. As a family that is told mostly in the novel of Cry, the Beloved Country, Kumalo’s family may indeed have its own conflict. In Noller and Fitzpatrick’s Communication in Family Relationships, it is stated that Conflict is an inevitable part of family life. Family members have frequent and intense close contact, often leading to irritability and annoyance. Family resources are not inexhaustible and therefore have to be shared. Often family members have disagreements about who has the right to tell other family members what to do 1993: 99. 1 . Racial Discrimination Stephen Kumalo’s family is the origin family of Zulu people in Ndotsheni, Province of Natal, South Africa. According to Oxford Children’s Encyclopedia, it is stated that the Zulus are the largest of the 10 main groups of black Africans in South Africa. Of the 5,680,000 Zulus, nearly two-thirds live in KwaZulu, which was once called Zululand Oxford University Press, 1991: 192. Kumalo’s family background comes from black family, as like the other black families that are told in the story. He lives together with his wife, and his son, Absalom Kumalo. They live in a small and simple house. His sibling relationship is also portrayed in the novel, such as his relation with his younger sister, Gertrude Kumalo, and his brother, John Kumalo. In the story, he is told to be a kind, wise, simple, and generous man. In Paul B. Horton and Chester L. Hunt’s Sociology, it is stated that family is the basic social institution from which other institutions have PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI grown as increasing cultural complexity made the necessary. Therefore, family is important in forming society in which it is the basic institution, which develops the society 1980: 216. So biologically the Kumalo family has includes one father, one mother, and one son. Cultural background in South Africa also influences his family. The fact that white people has broken the tribal structure causes any difference in social life. The segregation in many aspects of life in South Africa is experienced by black people. Massive social injustice and inequalities appears in their daily life. Clear difference of black and white happens in many situations. He put the paper into his wallet, and together they watched the train. As all country trains in South Africa are, it was full of black travellers. On this train indeed there were not many others, for the Europeans of this district all have their cars, and hardly travel by train any more. Kumalo climbed into the carriage for non-Europeans, already full of the humbler people of his race, some with strange assortments of European garments, some with blanket over their strange assortment, some with blankets over the semi-nudity of their primitive dress, though these were all women. Men travelled no longer in primitive dress Paton, 1948: 14-15. From this sentence, it is described clear that Stephen Kumalo’s background is from black people. It is different with white people in many cases. Martin N. Marger, in a book of Social Inequality, states that: The South African system of inequality was essentially “whites at the top and nonwhites at the bottom.” More accurately, however, the society was divided into four officially designated categories, based on perceptions of racial difference: whites, Coloreds, Asians mostly Indians, and Africans. The allocation of justice, health care, jobs, education, living quarters, and so on all depended, to some degree, on one’s racial classification. Whites received the PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI bulk of the society’s resources; Africans the least. The distance between the whites and the other three racial categories was so great, however, that the hierarchy was in effect a dichotomy— whites over nonwhites 2005: 178. In the novel, there is another contrast happens in farms. White farms are symbolically located at the tops of the hills, where the land is green and fruitful. Black South Africans, however, are forced to tend their settlements at the bottom of the hills, in the unforgiving land of the valley http:www.sparknotes.comlitcrysection1.rhtml. Many other situations in the novel describe the difference of black and white people, such as their right to be a landowner and to have farm in different certain places. Because black South Africans are allowed to own only limited quantities of land, the natural resources of these areas are sorely taxed. The soil of Ndotsheni turns on its inhabitants—exhausted by over-planting and over-grazing, the land becomes sharp and hostile. For this reason, most young people leave the villages to seek work in the cities. Both Gertrude and Absalom find themselves caught up in this wave of emigration, but the economic lure of Johannesburg leads to danger. Facing limited opportunities and disconnected from their family and tribal traditions, both Gertrude and Absalom turn to crime http:www.sparknotes.comlitcrythemes.html. Stephen Kumalo is the head of a black family that live in Ndotsheni, Province of Natal, South Africa. His house is near the St. Mark Church, Natal. Living as a good Christian becomes a part of his life and his family. He has responsibility to his family. With his wife too, he has PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI responsibility to their only son. Actually his blood relationship with his siblings is also told in the story. As a father, he plays a dominant role in their daily life. In his society, he is honored by community. He is called a Reverend or a priest. A lot of aspects of Christianity are in his family. A lot of times in his life he spends in pray. Being respected by his neighbors, he is very famous because of his kindness too. Reuter, in his book of Sociology, states that the person’s status and role are in part determined by such facts as age, sex, race, personal appearance, deformities, and other items of physical character; they are determined in part by education, family connections, religious affiliation, occupation, and other facts resulting from the accident of birth 1941: 45. Having any influence in his village, Stephen Kumalo is respected by his neighbors there. Silent condition in rural area of Ndotsheni influences his social life very much. They live their life in comfortable situation. In Life World Library South Africa by Tom Hopkinson, it is stated that the life of the black man in South Africa, especially in the cities, is beset by appalling difficulties. Segregation in its most extreme form— under the name of apartheid—rules every aspect of his existence 1964: 97. So it is a description of social condition in South Africa for black people. The life difference of rural and urban area also influences it very much. When some members of Kumalo’s family go to Johannesburg, they experience what happen in the city and how the condition affects their life very much. The clear difference between Ndotsheni and Johannesburg PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI represents the social life and situation in both places. So the pattern of behavior is also different too. Each society of both rural and urban area has their own way to solve their problem. Racial discrimination is the bad thing that happens to Stephen Kumalo’s family members in Johannesburg. Racial discrimination influences the social life of black and white people. It is the big problem that destructs his family. There is a problem about influence of social life of South Africa towards Stephen Kumalo’s family too. As a black family, Kumalo’s family experiences this injustice very much. So it brings some problem in some members of the family. It is virtually the responsibility of all members of the family to solve it. But an important role must be taken by Stephen Kumalo in solving it. Gertrude and Absalom Kumalo are victims of the fact that black people always have different treatment in many cases. They are victim of an injustice that happens in South Africa, especially in Johannesburg. Social segregation in South Africa brings a negative effect for them in their life in Johannesburg. Here are three members of Kumalo’s family that are in trouble condition as told in the novel and are being searched by Stephen Kumalo. They have their own problem in Johannesburg. It is related to the family because Stephen Kumalo, as the head of their family, has responsibility to maintain the family and solve their problem. Stephen and his wife think of this condition and consider it a problem in their family life that must be solved. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI The first is his sister, Gertrude Kumalo. Gertrude is Reverend Stephen Kumalo’s sister as told in the novel. Both characters in the novel are in blood relationship. She is twenty-five years younger than Stephen Kumalo. As an older brother, Stephen does not want bad thing to happen to his younger sister. As a relationship in siblings, Stephen and Gertrude are certainly close, but because of the large difference of their age, they are not so close each other. It is also told in the novel, While Kumalo was waiting for Msimangu to take him to Shanty Town, he spent the time with Gertrude and her child. But it was rather to the child, the small serious boy, that he turned for his enjoyment; for he had been a young man in the twenties when his sister was born, and there had never been great intimacy between them. After all he was a parson, sober and rather dull no doubt, and his hair was turning white, and she was a young woman still Paton, 1948: 55. Gertrude is told to be sick in a letter from Theophilus Msimangu to Stephen Kumalo. It’s not a kind of illness. Her illness is a kind of society illness, and urban societies tend to have this sick. She becomes a liquor seller, a prostitute, and has been in prison more than once. She experiences these illnesses in the city of Johannesburg. A lot of problems come to black people, and Gertrude Kumalo has her own problem too. Because of his great love, great expectation comes to Stephen Kumalo to aid his sister in her trouble in Johannesburg. In the novel, it is told that Gertrude’s husband is recruited to work in mines by white people. So she separates with her husband, and she lives with her only child. The separation with a husband and a wife happens here. It is very difficult for Gertrude. In the novel, Paton always writes PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI how difficult for a woman to live alone in a big city like Johannesburg. Sometimes this statement is spoken by some certain characters. Separation with her husband causes some other difficulties to her in her small family. So she decides to take her baby and go to Johannesburg to look for her husband. Paton also wrote about problems that came to black people who work in mines in Johannesburg. They separate with their wife and children and other relatives. The mines, they cry, the mines. For many of them are going to work in mines Paton, 1948: 16. South Africa has great mines. It is very important field in South Africa. In the novel, Stephen’s brother, John Kumalo, has also said about the fate of black people and the mines when they meet firstly in Johannesburg. John Kumalo also says that Johannesburg is the mines because all big and interesting buildings are made from the gold in mines. It is very difficult for black people who work in the mines to get a better life. Go to our hospitals, he said, and see our people lying on the floors. They lay so close you cannot step over them. But it is they who dig the gold. For three shillings a day. We come from Transkei, and from Basutoland, and from Bechuanaland, and from Swaziland, and from Zululand. And from Ndotsheni also. We live in the compounds, we must leave our wives and families behind. And when the new gold is found, it is not we who will get more for our labour. It is the white man’s shares that will rise, you will read it in all the papers. They go mad when new gold is found. They bring more of us to live in the compounds, to dig under the ground for three shillings a day. They do not think, here is a chance to pay more for our labour. They think only, here is a chance to build a bigger house and buy a bigger car. It is important to find gold, they ay, for all South Africa is built on the mines Paton, 1948: 35. So what happen to Gertrude’s husband, no one knows. There are PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI no people who can insure that a black man who works in mine can live in better condition. Although she has struggled very much to look for her husband, she does it in vain. It causes Gertrude get sad and depressed. It also makes her fall in a lot of problems. She becomes a liquor seller, a prostitute, and has been in prison. She is drinking heavily in Johannesburg. She lives alone with her child but she has a lot of ‘husbands’ too. She becomes a victim of how African family is broken up by housing only black workers but not their families. It seems that there is an ironical thing; she is a sister of a good and wise priest. It is also a problem for Stephen because she does not write anymore to his brother, Stephen Kumalo, in Ndotsheni. So it makes him anxious when he gets a letter from Msimangu about Gertrude’s sickness. The second is Stephen’s son, Absalom Kumalo. Absalom is the only son of the couple of Stephen and Margareth Kumalo. As the only one child, he is loved very much by his parents. In his very young age, he must be a part with his parents. The first thing that causes separation is to follow his aunt, Gertrude, to Johannesburg. It is not considered a problem at the first time, but it is a problem when Stephen and his wife do not know about their son’s condition in such a large city like Johannesburg. Loving their son makes them take a hard struggle to look for him. Kumalo’s large anxiety appears very much to his son, Absalom, in his struggle to search his “lost” family members. Stephen Kumalo and his wife are suffering about thinking of their son. As the parents of such a PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI boy, Stephen and his wife are covered by fear and anxiety. They live in sorrow in their house in Ndotsheni. The situation of the big city like Johannesburg makes them afraid. They think how a young boy can live alone in such a city. In his travel to Johannesburg, some people tell him about what situation in Johannesburg. So he can recognize the difference between the life of rural, Ndotsheni and the urban area, such as Johannesburg. Stephen Kumalo learns so many crimes there that he thinks of his son whether he is involved in it or not. Fear of losing control comes to Stephen about his son. Living far away from his son makes him not understand about how his son lives his own life in Johannesburg. Noller and Fitzpatrick also states that anxiety can also be related to fear of losing control of either one’s own life an autonomy issue or the direction of the relationship 1993: 97. Absalom has a lot of problems in his very young age. His decision in moving to Johannesburg is a trend of young black people leaving their villages, as a rural area to the city, as an urban area. Coming to Johannesburg also to look for her aunt, they have never been met yet there. Noller and Fitzpatrick states in their book, Communication in Family Relationships, that adolescents from close families, for example, may have difficulty separating from the family and leaving home, or in being allowed to make their own decisions about their present or future lifestyle 1993: 96. It seems difficult for Absalom who is very young to live in a complex city. In his very young age, it is easy for him to involve PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI in a life style of a big city both positive and negative things. He works in many places, but he often moves from one to other places. He has experienced living amongst the squatters in Shanty Town, Johannesburg. He has ever spent his time in reformatory. Some say he is a good boy and has good behaviour, some says he is a senior in his workplace. There is also a young girl that is pregnant by him. And the problem is that he leaves the pregnant girl alone, and he never comes back until he is arrested by police. He leaves without any information about him. Absalom is also engaged even in any crime. He is one of the troublemakers in Johannesburg. The crime of black against white happens, and Absalom is involved in it. White people are afraid of any crime by black people. An example of the crime to white is an attack on an elderly white couple. White people have become afraid because of a rise in crime. All of the crimes are related to the native people anymore. Young white man in the reformatory has said to Stephen and Msimangu about this terrible situation when they fail to meet Absalom. They ask the girl who is pregnant by him. Because of the failure, the young white man gives an advice to Stephen and Msimangu. He says that he will try continuously to help tem in searching for Absalom. He wants to help Stephen in his uncertain fear. “Let us not give up all hope, he said. It has happened sometimes that a boy is arrested, or is injured and taken to hospital, and we do not know. Do not give up hope, umfundisi. I will not give up the search Paton, 1948: 63.” PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI There is also other crime to native. There is an African girl who was robbed and almost raped . Then he becomes a burglar. In some cases, he robs in white people’s house. He commits theft with his friends. One of his friends is his own cousin, the son of his uncle, John Kumalo. They steal some goods in white’s house, such as watches, clothes, food in bottles, and money. They do it so frequently that makes the situation get worse in Johannesburg. Burglary is a usual crime of black people as their protest to white people. So becoming a burglar is a part of Absalom’s youth. It is such a difficult life he must walk on that he always in dangerous situation. The crime committed by Absalom and his friends becomes a part of life in urban area. The different life of rural and urban influences this case very much. Murder is the worst crime that they commit. With his two friends, he makes a big mistake in using his revolver when they plan to rob in white people’s house. Although he does not intend to kill, he uses his gun to kill a white man. Arthur Jarvis becomes the victim of it. He is very famous in Johannesburg. He is a white man who struggles hard for the rights of black people too. He is killed and shot dead in his house. For this case, Absalom must be responsible about it although he admits that there is a misuse of a gun and he has no intention to kill Arthur Jarvis. Black crime is a thing which Absalom is involved in. Arthur is a son of James Jarvis, a landowner in Carisbrooke, Ndotsheni. Stephen knows James well because he is famous white man in PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI Ndotsheni. In the novel, two of the priests at the Mission House talks about it: “This is a terrible loss for South Africa, said the white priest. For this Arthur Jarvis was a courageous young man, and a great fighter for a justice. And it is a terrible loss for the Church too. He was one of the finest of all our young laymen” “Jarvis? It is indeed a terrible thing, said Msimangu. He was the president of the African Boys’ Club, here in Claremont, in Gladiolus Street Paton, 1948: 65.” This part of conversation shows that Arthur Jarvis has a big and important influence in his struggle for justice in Johannesburg. He commits lofty things for people in Johannesburg. An ironical thing happens because Arthur is killed by people whose rights he struggle to fight for. He is the man who cares about the segregation of black and white in Johannesburg. Paton also writes in the novel that the dead man was well known for his interest in social problems, and for his efforts for the welfare of the non-European sections of the community 1948: 66. Arthur has also written in his manuscript just before he dead about native crime in South Africa. The old tribal system was, for all its violence and savagery, for all its superstition and witchcraft, a moral system. Our natives today produce criminals and prostitutes and drunkards, not because it is their nature to do so, but because their simple system of order and tradition and convention has been destroyed. It was destroyed by the impact of our own civilization. Our civilization has therefore an inescapable duty to set up another system of order and tradition and convention Paton, 1948: 127. According to Evening Star, a newspaper that writes about what happens to Arthur Jarvis, he is shot dead in his house by an intruder, PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI thought to be a native. Stephen Kumalo’s great suspiciousness is about Absalom’s involvement in the murder. He spends his time thinking of his son. The great fear comes to him. The great fear of how a boy is killed in the street. The great fear of how a young boy can live alone in the great city, with its thousands people. The great fear of how native crime is usual thing in a big city. All of parents certainly do not want bad things to come to their child. So Stephen worries about this situation. In his mind, there is always an inquiry about his son’s involvement in this case. Finally the police arrest them and a big dilemma comes to Stephen about the justice and his son. A positive learning from this case is how Absalom is very honest to speak all about the truth to the police. He tells the police the real fact of Arthur murder. Being slandered by his own brother, John Kumalo, in court, the capital punishment is taken by Absalom because of the crime. It is easy for John who has a lawyer in the process of their case. The third is Stephen Kumalo’s younger brother, John Kumalo. In the early times in Johannesburg, he works as a carpenter, but because of his luck, then he becomes a politician in Johannesburg. He is a businessman too and has some influence and importance in Johannesburg. He becomes very famous as a figure who struggles for the rights of black people in South Africa, especially in the city of Johannesburg. He is one of the three black men who have big influence in Johannesburg, and white people are afraid of their action. Among some family members of Stephen PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI Kumalo who are in Johannesburg, John is the one who has good fate. He is different with his sister, Gertrude and his nephew, Absalom. His journey is better than them. He lives in comfortable situation. He enjoys what is called a rich man. He lives in welfare in Johannesburg. So, racial discrimanition is the biggest problem in that influences Stephen Kumalo’s family. Three members of his family live their own and different life in Johannesburg by the racial discrimination. It can destroy all of black families in South Africa, especially in a big city like Johannesburg.

2. Shame

It is a problem that is only felt by Stephen Kumalo. As a leader of the family, he is a responsible figure. He is very well known in Ndotsheni as a priest. The problem that happens to Gertrude causes an emotional thing to Stephen Kumalo. He is ashamed of Gertude and Absalom’s bad habit. An ironical thing happens here. Stephen Kumalo is a priest while his sister, Gertrude is liquor seller, a prostitute, and a prisoner. Absalom is a robber and a murderer that causes Stephen ashamed of. In his searching for Gertrude, Stephen is helped by Theophilus Msimangu. When Stephen firstly meets Gertrude in Johannesburg, he is anxious and then expresses his emotional feeling to his sister. He gets angry and certainly he is ashamed of it. “You have shamed us, he says in a low voice, not wishing to make it known to the world. A liquor seller, a prostitute with a child and you do not know where it is. Your brother a PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI priest. How could you do this to us?” Paton, 1948: 29 In this statement, Stephen Kumalo gets angry to Gertrude because in his mind, Gertrude has brought bad image to him. Some people who hear about Gertrude tell Kumalo about Gertrude’s social sickness. Theophilus Msimangu sends Stephen a letter to solve her problem in Johannesburg. After receiving this letter, he thinks of his position in his society, and in his travel to look for his family members, he realizes that they have caused bad image for him. So he is certainly ashamed. Shame is an internal conflict in Stephen’s mind. Every parent certainly has the same feeling if facing the same condition or situation. Shame is one of the hardest emotions to overcome. It can be the result of a persons action towards you, or a wrong choice that was made. When a person experiences shame, they not only have to deal with the internal struggle of dealing with it, but also the difficult task of facing other people again http:www.ehow.comhow_2105051_deal- shame.html. Shame is very usual in social life. There are a lot of reactions toward a problem in society. Various opinions from each other in society can influence one’s life very much. Human cannot be separated with each other. So the shame always happens in human life in society. The shame is not only the struggle in one person him or herself but also how his or her struggle to face other people in society. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

3. Failure in Educating Family Members

In Encyclopedia of Cultural Anthropology of David Levinson and Melvin Ember, it is said that the fundamental relationships of human family organization are marriage, parenthood, and shared descent, which are based on the social identities of spouse, parent, child, and sibling. These social identities are defined differently from society to society and have associated with them characteristics sets of rights and duties which also differ 1996: 479. So, all of the members in a family have function to show good character to others in a family. In this part, one of the problems in Stephen Kumalo’s family is going to be told. The problem is about how Stephen feels that he has failure in teach his family members so they cannot live better in Johannesburg. It is told in the novel that Stephen Kumalo has a son, a sister, and a brother in his family. Stephen Kumalo breaks up with those family members. He, and his wife, has a bad experience of being apart with their son. It is told that they only have one son. The type of nuclear family is portrayed here. They not only have a problem about separation with their only son, but also the problem about lack of communication with their young son. His thoughts turned to the girl, and to the unborn babe that would be his grandchild. Pity that he a priest should have a grandchild born in such a fashion. Yet that could be repaired. If they were married, then he could try to rebuild what had been broken. Perhaps his son and the girl would go back with him to Ndotsheni, perhaps he and his wife could give to the child what they had failed to give to their own. Yet where had they failed? What had they done, or left undone, that their son had become a thief, PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI moving like a vagabond from place to place, living with a girl who was herself no more than a child, father of a child who would have had no name? Yet, he comforted himself, that was Johannesburg. And yet again, and the fear smote him as grievously as ever, his son had left the girl and the unborn child, left the work that the young white man had got for him, and was vagabond again. And what did vagabonds do? Did they not live without law or custom, without faith or purpose, might they not then lift their hand against any other, any man who stood between them and the pitiful gain that they were seeking Paton, 1948: 78. It is the indication of how Stephen thinks of his failure in educating his son. It is in his mind that he has given no more useful thing to his son. So he regrets and promises good future for Gertrude’s son and the unborn baby of Absalom and his girlfriend. Traditionally, parents are supposed to be in control of families and responsible for their children’s behavior Noller and Fitzpatrick, 1993: 134. Children’s behavior is determined by how the parents’ way to teach them. Parents have big responsibility to teach their children and prepare them to live in society. In Cheal’s Sociology of Family Life, it is stated that families do not exist in isolation. They are connected to a number of groups, because they depend upon them. Families cannot meet all of their needs unaided, in any society, and they must therefore turn to other groups for support and for resources 2002: 13. It is also shown in Kumalo’s sentence to his wife about his anger to his “lost” family members. “Hurting myself? hurting myself? I do not hurt myself, it is they who are hurting me. My own son, my own sister, my own brother. They go away and they do not write any more. Perhaps it does not seem to them that we suffer. Perhaps they do not care for it Paton, 1948: 11.” It is a part of what Kumalo say to his wife about his anxiety to his PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI own son, sister, and brother. Kumalo is very disappointed of his own families in Johannesburg. In this case, he is very responsible because he has sent letters many times. He and his wife do it because of their love for that son too. So Kumalo cannot control or recognize about his family members’ condition. They cannot communicate each other. Kumalo’s letters to them always come back to him and his wife. So he and his wife become worry about it. Anxiety, sorrow, and fear appear to disturb this spouse. Their only son is not known on what condition he is. It is the biggest anxiety of parents for their son who is in trouble. Stephen Kumalo shows his fear about the condition of his son. He is angry when his wife says that if people go to Johannesburg, they do not come back. “We had a son, he said harshly. Zulus have many children, but we had only one son. He went to Johannesburg, and as you said – when people go to Johannesburg, they do not come back. They do not even write anymore. They do not go to St. Chad’s, to learn that knowledge without which no black man can live. They go to Johannesburg, and they are lost, and no one hears of them at all. And this money … Paton, 1948: 11.” His big attention to his family is shown in most part on the novel. As a father and an old brother, he is considered to be a wise person beside a leader in their family. He takes big responsibility in his family. Playing an important role of the head of the family makes him think of the best things to his family. He is anxious about his sister’s health, the potential costs of treating her illness, and the chaos of Johannesburg, where there are many buses and one can be killed just by crossing the street, as happened to a twelve-year-old boy who was an acquaintance of Kumalo’s. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI His gravest concern is his son http:www.sparknotes.comlitcrysection1.rhtml. A lot of problems become the usual things in a big city, such as Johannesburg. Crime tends to happen in the urban area which has many complex problems and various kinds of people with their own cultural and social background. Almost every day, there are various kinds of crime there, such as thievery, robbery, or even murder. Black people are potential very much to be involved in those crimes, and the black is native. The big anxiety and fear come to white people. They cannot live their life in comfortable and safe situation. The threat of native crime always comes in their mind all the time. It is an example of chaos in such a large city. In his novel, Paton also writes do much about how fear is the one thing in a great city where there are thousands upon thousands of people to describe Stephen Kumalo’s feeling. Stephen Kumalo feels that his family members in Johannesburg cannot avoid these negative aspects of a big city. He worries them very much. It is the usual feeling of one member of a family to another. Stephen’s feeling of failure in educating family members is also by lack of communication. Stephen becomes anxious and realizes that his family members do not live their life well but he cannot know it because they have no communication. Lack of communications with their son make Stephen and his wife worry about it. As we know that good communication can help a family in building a closer relationship or PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI solving some problems. Family and communication are two terms that have a relationship each other. The effectiveness of communication in a family can determine some things in a family. Noller and Fitzpatrick state in their book of Communication in Family Relationships about the term of communication and family. It said that: We begin by defining the terms “family” and “communication.” Why do we devote an entire chapter to defining terms as simple as “the family” and “communication?” There are many reasons for spending time on this explication. First, as practicing researchers, we know that how we define our terms limits what we study and how we study it. If we define the family as a unit including a mother, father, and at least one minor child, then that is exactly the type of group we will seek out. If we define communication as the accurate transmission of a message, then we will probably study accuracy. Second, it is difficult to come up with a definition of either term that is simultaneously intellectually and politically acceptable. Traditional definitions of communication as a process of sharing meaning through the use of verbal and nonverbal messages come under attack from postmodernist theories 1993: 1- 2. So it is the relationship between the communication and the family. Family and communication cannot be separated because family is a social institution that needs relationship of each member in it. Good communication in a family can help the family to solve its problem. Each member of a family can play their own role better and better by good communication. They can convey what they mean by a good communication. No communication in a family can cause the problem in a family. Lack of communication between Gertrude, Absalom, and John Kumalo with Stephen Kumalo and his wife causes some problem in their family, such as fear and anxiety. Further, it causes lack of control too. And PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI lack of control is more dangerous thing for a young boy or girl who lives alone in very big city with its complicated business. Communication becomes more and more essential if there are some members of a family who live in other places, or they separate from their family because of any certain purposes, such as for working.

B. Stephen Kumalo’s Struggles to Solve His Family Problems