Description
The passage discusses the experience of having a penpal from a different country and the impact of racial tensions in South Africa on their friendship. The narrator, Sam, writes to his penpal, Chris, from North Carolina and expresses curiosity about life in South Africa. However, their friendship is tested when violence erupts in the country and they must confront their own racial biases. The words of Msimangu, an old priest in the novel Cry, the Beloved Country, are mentioned, highlighting the fear that love may turn to hate in the face of racial conflict.
My name is Sam. I got your address from an international penpal service in an Atomic Frogman comic book. I am writing you from Ayden, North Carolina. What is it like to live in South Africa? I see these pictures of people starving with paint marks on their face and no clothes on in National Geographic magazine... Having a penpal is almost more fun than having a friend you can see every day. When one of you lives on a farm in the USA and the other lives in the suburbs of Johannesburg, there's a lot to learn about each other - and it's so much easier to say what you really feel in a letter. But Sam is black and Chris is white and when South Africa erupts in the violence of '76, they are forced to confront their own deepest racial feelings. Together they must try to learn from the words of Msimangu, the old priest in Cry, the Beloved Country: I have one great fear in my heart; that one day when they are turned to loving, they will find we are turned to hating.
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