Brutus and John Anderton

What do Brutus (from The Tragedy of Julius Caesar) and John Anderton (from Minority Report) have in common?

Power and the Beloved Country

Stumped. Stymied. Befuddled. Flustered. Perplexed. Mystified. Stuck.

That’s what I felt when trying to decide how to introduce the next novel in my class, Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton. Even though I’m teaching American Literature in this college-level course, I’m using an African novel principally because Paton used Steinbeck’s style, motifs, and some of the patterns of The Grapes of Wrath. Also, Paton drew inspiration from Abraham Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address” and Lincoln’s “Second Inaugural Address.”