Afraid of something uncertain
“Out there in the street, he was humiliated and ashamed. Humiliated because the people passing looked in astonishment, ashamed because he had not come
for this purpose at all. He had come to tell his brother that power corrupts. That a man who fights for justice must himself be cleansed and purified, that
love is greater than force. And none of these things had he done. p.182”
Suffering has become the major factor of Stephen Kumalo’s conflicts because he always feels suffer when he has to deals with the member of his family. He feels
suffer because he thinks that his family hurting him, for he is a priest but his son has become a murderer, and his sister has become a prostitute and his brother live with a
woman but not married. From the beginning of the story, Kumalo already shows his suffering when he receive letter from Johannesburg telling about his family in
Johanessburg. “-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 do not write anymore. Perhaps it does not seem to them that we suffer.
Perhaps they do not care for it. p. 11”
After all the conflicts Kumalo had experience, he learns that he can believe in all his suffering. It means he begins to understand what the meaning of his life is. It
makes him have a strong character with an understanding of life. The journey had opened his eyes of what had happening in Johannesburg is different from Ndotsheni.
“Kumalo looked at him under the light of the lamp. I believe, he said. But I have learned that it is a secret. Pain and suffering, they are a secret. Kindness
and love, they are a secret. But I have learned that kindness and love can pay for pain and suffering. There is my wife, and you, my friend, and these people
who welcomed me, and the child who is so eager to be with us here in Ndotsheni –so in my suffering I can believe. p.193”
“Kumalo came to himself with a start and realized how far he had travelled since that journey to Johannesburg. The great city had opened his eyes to
something that had begun and must now be continued. For there in PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
Johannesburg things were happening that had nothing to do with any chief. But he got to his feet, for they had summoned him to the presence of the ruler
of the tribe p. 196.”
It can be seen that from all of the conflicts Stephen Kumalo faces, Kumalo learns many things that shapes his character to be more humble and not depend to
himself or the situation or to other people because it can cause him to have internal conflicts.