This chapter starts very much like Chapter 1, with a description of the countryside around Ixopo, but instead of leading down to the washed-out, eroded gullies and barren lands, it leads up to the highlands, rich and fertile, and to "High Place," the home of James Jarvis.
Jarvis is shown to be quite an ordinary man, one who is disturbed by the plight of the natives, yet so concerned with his own problems that he finds he cannot solve the plight of the natives or his own problems. It is easier not to act than to act, yet he continues to be conscious of a deteriorating state of affairs.
His love of the land matches that shown earlier by Stephen. The land was his father's before him. This is the place where he was born and grew up, where he married and fathered a son, and where the son grew up.
Jarvis is a decent man, if limited, and has some decent feelings for both the people and the land itself. In fact, he is a fairly close parallel to Stephen. Both come from the same region, and both are simple, honest men who are not (at least at the start) aware of how severely things have broken down and how drastic the situation has become. Both are happily married and have one son whom they love very much. And now both men are confronted by the same tragedy.
Chapter 19 marks the start of James Jarvis' education. In many ways it parallels Stephen's education, for both men learn about the problems of Johannesburg from having those problems forced on them. Both have been men of goodwill but have been very naive.
James Jarvis learns that Arthur would risk everything — his job, security, reputation, even the necessities of life — to help other people. This aspect of Arthur is unknown to his father, just as Absalom's life of crime was unknown to Stephen. Both fathers have a terrible need to understand, and this chapter shows that need being born in James Jarvis.
