Chapters 8-9 Summary

In Chapter 8, Jezile attends a protest in Ixopo where the women plan to give the police a list of demands. Even though the women are not violent or otherwise cause trouble, the police arrest them and take them to prison in the far away city of Pietermaritzburg. The women are frightened, but they stand strong to their believes. The following morning, each woman is sentenced to six months in prison. These women are divided into work groups. Each group is expected to break up rocks all day long. Nosizwe, who is a doctor and has never done such hard work before, suffers. However, she is determined to keep up, even though she must accept the other women's help. Early in their sentence, the guards determine that Nosizwe is a leader of the woman, so they separate her, forcing her to remain...