James Jarvis v. Gabriel:
In Alan Paton’s Cry, The Beloved Country, James Jarvis’ grief after the loss of his son, Arthur Jarvis, a prominent advocate for justice for black South Africans, prompts him to undergo a moral conversion. His deceased son’s journal shocks the equilibrium of ignorance that James Jarvis had pleasured himself in functioning in. In James Joyce’s “The Dead,” the character of Gabriel, after receiving shocking news finds that “his soul had approached that region where dwell the vast hosts of the dead (203).” Although Gabriel’s news of his wife’s past lover is not news that his wife is dead, but rather, news that results in Gabriel finding himself insignificant and even dead to his own wife. James Jarvis is able to turn his shock and grief into a product that ultimately yields a product of betterment for others, while Gabriel, filled with anger, feels as though all things have come to an end, and he, physically and spiritually, is dead. Although both gentlemen both enter the same grieving process, James Jarvis is ultimately able to deal with grief in a more productive and altruistic manner. James Jarvis’s moral alteration is a direct result of his grief. After the death of his son, James Jarvis changes, presumably
James Jarvis and Gabriel both are forced to deal with grief and shock. for the betterment of himself and others. Previously, James Jarvis was merely a white, English-speaking plantation owner, who lived on the hill above Ndotsheni. Ignorant and indifferent to the injustices of South Africa, James Jarvis raises his son, Arthur Jarvis in this manner. This very manner embodies all that Arthur would come to resent. After the loss of his son, James sits down to read his son’s “Essay on the evolution of South Africa,” only to learn that his sons detests and resents the very ignorance that his father breed into him. Hurt and shocked, James Jarvis read on to find that his son devoted his “time” and “energy” to the “service of South Africa” (208). James is able to turn his grief and anger into a more productive form of thinking—the past, “he was not going that way anymore, that was all.” Once he returns to Ndotsheni, he begins his moral conversion. He works hard to make things better for the people of the village. He donates milk to the young children and arranges to have a dam built to irrigate the soil better. Additionally, he hires an agricultural expert to teach the farmer
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Michael Furey,
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Approximate Word count = 810
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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