CTBC – Chapter Summaries

Ch.Summary/Main Idea Readers are able to picture the setting through imagery. Kumalo receives a letter telling him to come to Johannesburg to check on his sister. Kumalo and a friend are at the train station. Kumalo is asked to check on Sibeko’s daughter while away. Fear of the unknown sets in. Kumalo arrives in Johannesburg (fascinated by the new sights). Although he is taken advantage of, he meets a kind stranger who takes him to the mission house (where he meets with Rev. Msimangu).

Ch.Summary/Main Idea Kumalo hears many negative things of Johannesburg. Kumalo finds his sister and her child but not Absalom. She claims she wants to come home. Kumalo feels like the family/tribe is coming back together. Kumalo runs into his brother who seems to be a different person. Kumalo and Msimangu’s search for Absalom turns up empty. They continue to search for Absalom in Alexandra. The mention of his name seems to bring fear into people’s eyes. They witness the bus boycotts.

Ch.Summary/Main Idea There are too many people and not enough housing in Johannesburg. Shanty Town is established. Kumalo continues to search for his son. He visits different people and eventually finds out his son has impregnated a young girl. But, Absalom is still nowhere to be found. The news of Arthur Jarvis’s death is in the newspaper. A sudden fear comes over Kumalo. The reader hears conversations by white South Africans. They speak on the issue of violence, crime, and black South Africans and their opinions on what should be done. Police search for Absalom.