Mr. Carmichael: Absalom's lawyer; he takes his case pro deo (for God) in this case meaning for free.
Stephen KumaloJames JarvisAbsalom KumaloReverend MsimanguJohn KumaloCry, the Beloved Country/Characters
Carmichael and Father Vincent agree that the best strategy is to tell the truth, which is that Absalom fired the gun out of fear, not intending to kill the man. Mr. Carmichael is unsuccessful in making the judge believe Absalom. His accomplices are released, but Absalom is hanged.
Absalom's Friendship with Matthew Kumalo travels to Johannesburg to check on his sister and son. He goes to his brother, John, for help. John's son, Matthew Kumalo, is a friend of Absalom's. Most of what the reader learns about Matthew comes from conversations between Stephen and John.
John Kumalo is our Kumalo's little brother. He owns a shop in Johannesburg, but his real pride and joy is his politicking. He gives rousing speeches about taking back what white employers owe to their black employees and seizing a share of South Africa's profitable mining profits for the black community.
Stephen KumaloJames JarvisAbsalom KumaloReverend MsimanguJohn KumaloCry, the Beloved Country/Characters
At his death Absalom was childless, for all his children, his three sons and his daughter, died before him, as a punishment for his having set fire to a field of grain belonging to Joab."
What do Kumalo and the girl agree to do? She will marry Absalom and return home with umfundisi.
In what way was Kumalo cruel to the girl carry Absalon's child. Kumalo is cruel to the girl by when he finds out she has had others before his son that had also been caught he asked her if she was going to take another after his son and if she's ever had a murder.
Gertrude is Kumalo's little sister—much littler, in fact, since she is twenty-five years and a whole generation younger than Kumalo. Before the beginning of the novel, Gertrude's husband left her with her small son to go work in the mines, and stopped writing letters home.
Johannes Pafuri is one of the three men who robs Arthur Jarvis's house (along with Matthew and Absalom Kumalo). Johannes used to work for the Jarvis household, which is how he knew that the family was supposed to be away.
In Cry, the Beloved Country, Absalom Kumalo is a young man who commits murder and is later hanged for the crime. He is also Stephen Kumalo's (the main character) son. Despite the fact that Stephen spends most of the first half of the story searching for Absalom, he does not speak very often.