Stephen and John Kumalo are brothers who play a major role in the novel: “Cry, The Beloved Country”. Throughout the story, we learn a lot of different things about these two characters, how they react to different situations, and their overall personalities. Unlike normal brothers, Stephen and John Kumalo are extremely different and if they didn't share the same last name, you would never have guessed that they grew up together. One example that really shows the major difference between them is their reaction when they find out that their children are both criminals. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Stephen Kumalo is the protagonist of the story. He is an Angelicine priest who controls the church in the village where he lives, Ndotsheni. He is a humble man who has a clear sense of right and wrong and a strong faith in God, which makes him a trustworthy person and, overall, a good man. Compared to the rest of the village, he is neither rich nor poor, which imposes difficulties such as sending his children to school, just like the average person in the village. However, not all of his positive personality traits make him perfect. He has outbursts of anger and yet lies, he prays to God to save him from temptation and repents every time he is wrong. John Kumalo, the brother of Stephen Kumalo, was originally a religious and practicing Christian and a carpenter. Time made him a hugely successful businessman as well as one of the three most powerful colored politicians in the city of Johannesburg. He used his powerful voice to fight for the rights of black South Africans. However, the fear of punishment prevents him from contributing to major changes and he is also known to be very corrupt and lacking in courage. His views on life in Johannesburg are illustrated in the following quote: “There in Ndotsheni I am nobody, just like you, my brother, I am subject to the chief, who is an uneducated man. I have to show him respect, but he is an uneducated man. Here in Johannesburg, I am a man of some importance, of some influence.” This quote shows John's love for power and money which clashes with his brother's opinion of them. In the novel Absalom Kumalo, the son of Stephen Kumalo, as well as Mathew Kumalo, the son of John Kumalo broke into Arthur Jarvis's house in an attempt to rob him. They knocked out the servant in order to carry out the theft and when Arthur came down to see what all the noise was coming from, Absalom shot him on sight, out of fear. Hearing this, Stephen was in despair. He didn't understand why his son had committed this horrible act and how he had let the devil get to him. He desperately wanted to understand how and why his son slipped into the criminal world, as shown in the following quotes: “You wrote nothing, you sent no messages. You went with bad people. You stole and broke in. But why? ", quote: "And Kumalo looks and sees that it is true, there is the father of the man who was murdered, the man who has the farm on the peaks above Ndotsheni, the man who he saw him pass in front of the church. And Kumalo trembles, and no longer looks at him. For how do we look at such a man? These quotes clearly show Stephen's worry, shame and sadness over this incident and do not consider how it will affect him personally. On the other hand, John's reaction does not come from a moral view of the incident. He is more concerned about the population's reaction to,.