In Chapter 35, we begin to see that in the reconstruction of the land, the demonstrator must work against the grumbling and discontent of the natives. He has to make them understand that reconstruction is a long, slow process and that they cannot expect too much in a short time.
The demonstrator and Kumalo have a discussion about who has responsibility for the condition of the land. Kumalo refuses to put all the blame on the white man and asserts the gratitude he feels for the way in which Mr. Jarvis has helped them. Kumalo warns the demonstrator not to hate any man and not to desire power over any man. From his trip to Johannesburg, Kumalo has learned the tragedy that can occur when hate and power control a man. Hope rests with people like the demonstrator, who assures Kumalo that he has no hate and desires only to work for the good of all of Africa.
The day before Absalom is to die, Stephen goes to the mountain to be alone with his thoughts and with God. King David, too, when he learned of the death of his son Absalom, went off by himself, to weep and mourn and cry, "O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!" Absalom had turned away from his father and had acted on the advice of false friends, friends who had betrayed him, and Absalom had died because of this. So the parallel between Cry, the Beloved Country and the Biblical story holds true.
The meeting between Jarvis and Stephen is as close as these men will ever come. Each says almost all he feels, and yet there remains some reticence, and Paton repeats several times the phrase "but such a thing is not done lightly" to illustrate that however much these men feel in common and however much love they have for one another, the pattern of racial relations in South Africa comes between even them. If these men cannot tear down this wall entirely, how much harder it is for men who have more fear, more hatred, and more to hide, to tear down the wall between them. Unless these walls are torn down soon, however, Msimangu's prophecy may come true, the prophecy that by the time the whites have realized they must overcome their fears and treat the blacks with justice, decency, and love, the blacks' patience will have worn away and be replaced by a hatred of the whites. Kumalo knows that only love will save Africa.
The book ends with a return to the mood of the first chapter, but with a difference: one day a dawn will come to lighten men's minds, to relieve them of the darkness of fear and the bondage to their fellow men.
