Brief Overview: 

Alan Stewart Paton is regarded as a kind, gentle man.  He enjoyed reading and tended to keep to himself.  Though he was a quiet one, Paton never held back when stating his political views and opinions.  As the problems of Aparthied increased, Paton became more involved.  Joining the orginization Toc H, a South African orginization similar to the American Kiwanis and Rotarian clubs, began to take more of Paton's time and he became engrossed in the problems of the underpriviliged and in South Africa's racial question.  His main concern was that the people that lived in the troubled land, people of all races live under constraintsof aprthied-the political yoke he knows and despises.  His novels depict problems that we all face, not just the problems of Africa.  Predjudice surrounds us all, and in Paton's eyes, "We all shared a love of justice and a hatred of exclusive nationalism and racialism.  Now having rejected Afrikaner nationalism, I went in quest of a new nationalism that would be based on love of one's land." 

Primary Influences: 

     - Paton's parents were quite influential; they were both very religious and this is prevelant in his works. 

     - Mother was a teacher 

     - Father was a civil servant 

     - The work ethic they instilled in him was reflected in his teachings and literary compilations. 

Secondary Influences 

     - In 1935 Paton went to Johannesburg to become principal of Diepkloof Reformatory.  As a teacher he developed a keen interest in the social and racial problems of South Africa. 

     - In his university years, Paton has told, he and his friends explored the whole province of Natal on foot, walking thirty miles a day over rough country. 

     - Became founder and National Chairman of the Liberal Party in South Africa until it was forced out of existance in 1968 when the national government banned interracial parties. 

     - He received both his Bachelor of Science, and Bachelor of Education degrees at the University of Natal. 

     - World War II prevented the realization of some of Paton's reforms, but he continued to serve as best he could under the existing conditions often undertaking manual labor. 

In Closing: 

     A Methodist, Paton is the most important force in the literature of forgiveness and adjustment. His talent lies in his ability project the fervor and sentiment of his liberal views rather than in his ability to convey full-blooded human beings.  It is said that Paton was known as, "The man who pulled up the barbed wire fence and planted geraniums."  For many years Paton channeled his mastery of language into speaking and writing on social problems of the day, so that he was accepted as an authoratative and objective interpreter of South Africa.