In the beginning of Chapter 10, Kumalo still feels that there is a great gulf separating him and his sister. He will have this same feeling when he meets his son. However, Kumalo feels some relief by his response to Gertrude's son and sees in the young boy a hope for the future. But at the same time that Kumalo is seeing all types of suffering and despair, he himself feels helpless. Throughout these chapters, he contemplates more and more about the basic value and nature of life.
The picture of the reformatory and the staff member reinforces the idea that there are white men of goodwill in South Africa who want to be constructive, creative, and kind, although the odds are overwhelmingly against them. The young director of the reformatory represents the frustration of continual disappointment when working with the natives. Absalom, as we hear, had been a paragon of virtue and one of the best inmates, suggesting that he is still redeemable, but when Absalom fails again in the outside world, the young director becomes rather bitter and disillusioned. Furthermore, the good Reverend Msimangu loses control of himself and expresses some bitter thoughts about the girl Absalom has deserted. Thus when even Msimangu and the director resort to bitterness and disillusionment, the situation must be desperate. The girl, though, has long ago given up hope, if indeed she ever had any. She is a Johannesburg girl, born and reared there, and her fate is simply to exist like a vegetable, without a trace of human dignity or happiness.
