Chapter 11 Summary

The naturally blind man, the Chronicler, considers what he should write in Braille. He thinks of all of the outrages that have been perpetrated upon the people in the hospital by the soldiers at first and lately by the thugs. He wanders through the hospital and overhears the complaints of the many inmates. He knows that influenza is rampaging through them and knows that they lie in filth and excrement. He knows they are starving and without further funds with which to purchase food. He knows that much of the food hoarded by the thugs has spoiled, but rather than distribute it they let it go to waste. He knows that the hospital now contains over three hundred inmates and that some of them have cancer or other life-threatening conditions that ordinarily would receive medical attention. Here, however, there is no medical attention...