At the end of the chapter, the young white man who had been concerned with Absalom at the reformatory breaks the long-established tradition that the blacks remain on one side and the whites on the other. He goes across the color line in order to help Stephen Kumalo, who is about to collapse.
In Chapter 29, the girl's expression of delight at being Stephen's daughter-in-law after she marries Absalom indicates how much she has needed a father, a family, guidance, and love of some sort, and indicates how much she has missed and longed for these things. She is animated and alive for almost the first time.
Stephen goes to John for a moral purpose: he feels that he must warn John. We see again that John is a very shallow person, and Stephen suddenly has a strong desire to hurt his brother. This is the second time that Stephen has had this urge, and he tells a small lie to John so as to frighten him. He is also bitter that John's son betrayed Absalom and makes a caustic comment about Absalom's friends. But as soon as Kumalo hurts his brother, he regrets it immediately. He had wanted to tell his brother that power can corrupt and to warn him to seek better ways of expressing himself; instead, he became angered and merely hurt his brother. Afterward, however, he does ask forgiveness for his act.
Msimangu's decision to enter the monastery is ambiguous in its motivation. He had been the strong voice of rationalism and generosity for the black man, and now he is retiring from the field of struggle. We are told that he is the first black man to take such a step, but his reasons for doing so are not clear. At least his act provides some material benefits for Stephen Kumalo in the form of the savings account.
