feet of clay

Hello, my name is Isaac. I am a junior mechanical engineering student. Nice to meet you.

One thing that impressed me during my reading of the novel was the humanity of Paton’s characters. Those you might call the “heroes” of the story, people like Kumalo, Jarvis, and Msimangu; even they were partakers in the worst of human nature.

Kumalo, one dedicated to the service of God, is just as selfish and sinful as any one of us. This is the man who, for the sake of his own vanity, lies about having been to Johannesburg before. Here is a priest who cannot find it in himself to pray because he is overwhelmed by the tragedy of his experience. In one of the novel’s most poignant moments, it is Kumalo, in the very act of trying to speak truth to his brother, who ends up destroying the relationship through his deceitful words.

Yet it is this same man who accomplishes great good in the story. It is he who rescues three children from a life of impoverished hopelessness and brings them into his own home. It is he who the people of Ndotsheni love above all others and for whom they will accept no substitute. It is Kumalo in the end who returns to the God he has served for so long and lays everything before Him in prayer.

Clay feet. Even a statue of iron has feet of clay. Even the best of humanity has the greatest of flaws.

The real truth lies in Msimangu’s statement: “I am not kind. I am a selfish and sinful man, but God put His hands on me, that is all.” (p. 55) It touched a chord in me when Kumalo passed that same message along to Jarvis in their final meeting. At Jarvis’ earnest assertion that he is “no saintly man,” Kumalo replies, “of that I cannot speak, but God put His hands on you.” (p. 308) That is all that can be said of any of us, even the best.

In which other characters in the novel do we see flaws that tarnish yet in some way humanize their image?