FAMILY AND SOIL PARALLEL

In Cry, the Beloved Country, Alan Potan uses soil (land) to parallel Kumalo's family because just like land, it needs to be taken care of in order to stay healthy and survive. When Kumalo is there and can pay attention to the soil it is in good shape but when he leaves, to go to Johannesburg to find his son and his sister, it gets ignored and ultimately suffers. It's parallel because the soil if its not payed attention to it is broken and dried out and it cannot function by its self, just lke Kumalo's family, his brother and sister cannot be alone in Johannesburg. They need the attention and support from there tribe. "The tribe was broken, and would be mended no more." Chapter 13. They cannot be part of a broken tribe.