Part Three: The Dog Grins: Chapters 21 - 23 Summary

Joy: Many months have passed, and everyone worries that this winter will be harder on the peasants than the year before. The family has started scavenging the failed wheat fields for a grain of wheat here and there. When Joy's contractions start, Tao's mother sends her to the birthing house because the government promised extra food rations and cloth to women who gave birth there. Joy gives birth to a girl, much to everyone's disappointment. Tao does not even come to the birthing center to look at his child. Joy names the baby Samantha, after her father, Sam, hoping that her daughter will grow up to be as brave and honorable as her namesake. She is sent home without any of the food or cloth she was promised because the commune...