Cry Journal #7

I tabbed the passage where Jarvis comes and starts setting the sticks in to the earth. As he leaves, the men helping him start to say that he is "going queer" and is soon to lose all of his money. Jarvis comes to Kumalo and asks him if Absalom recieves mercy. He seems unsatisfied with the answer, and sets off to Pretoria, where Absalom is being held. I think that what Jarvis is doing is trying to step into his son's footsteps to better understand him. I think Jarvis is starting to be generous and is trying to help the native people.

I tabbed "it was still raining, but lightly, and the valley was full of sound, of streams and rivers, all red with the blood of the earth" (279) because he using this sentence once before; "the great hills stand desolate, and the earth has torn away. The lightning flashes over them, the clouds pour down upon them, the dead streams come to life, full of the red blood of the earth" (34). In the earlier quote, he uses explicit words like desolate and torn and dead to convey a foreboding tone. In the later quote, he uses lighter words. This connection tells us that there is bitterness in the earlier chapters of the book, but as the story progress, we start to see the good in others, hence the kinder tone.