FREE ESSAY ON STEPHEN KUMALO

STEPHEN KUMALO

Stephen Kumalo 
Stephen Kumalo, who was an Anglican preacher with great moral 
value. He was very firm in his beliefs, yet very nave when it came to 
the real world. Many people who knew Kumalo would call him 
"Umfundisi", which is a title and used with respect. Kumalo is seeking out 
lost members of his family who have left the townships for the lights of the 
big city. He is looking for his sister Gertrude, who has become a 
prostitute and mostly, his son Absalom, who has disappeared into the 
darkness. Kumalo could not imagine why his son did what he did nor did he 
want to except the fact that it was solely his son's fault for killing a man. 
The same goes for his sister, the prostitute, he thought that she did what she 
did because she enjoyed it, but in all actuality she was a prostitute so her son 
could have a better life. Kumalo was a very emotional man, who dealt with 
his problem to the best of his knowledge. At the beginning you can tell he is 
a very caring individual for he allowed a child to eat at his home when she 
had nothing to eat at hers. He also responded immediately to the letter which 
he had received from a fellow preacher in Johannesburg. He sacrificed all 
the money which he and his wife had been saving for months, in order to go 
and search for his sister and his son. Kumalo had faced many obstacles 
through out his journey to bring his family back to live in their village. 
When he went through these obstacles, he never slowed down or stopped to 
search for his family members. Therefore, Kumalo was a main element in 
the plot. The reason he was so important is because through out all the trials 
that he faced, he never once buckled and he never once question why it was 
him and not someone else.