In Chapter 6, Kumalo sees for the first time the black section of the city where the neglected children play in the streets amid poverty and filth. It is also his first confrontation with a degrading type of life filled with vices of all kinds.
The confrontation with Gertrude is significant because when Kumalo first meets her, he takes a hand that is cold and dead. Symbolically, Gertrude is spiritually dead, but gradually, through the warmth and sincere devotion of Kumalo, she begins to come alive. She continues until there is a scene of sincere repentance on her part; then she confesses that she is sick and wishes to return home. The large city has made her sick; a general sickness abounds throughout Johannesburg. We also see a change in Kumalo in that at first he judges his sister harshly before he slowly begins to sympathize with her and ultimately forgives her.
The chapter ends on the hope that the tribe will be rebuilt and that Stephen's house will be restored. But as the search for Absalom will prove, the house is destined to undergo greater tragedy before it can be rebuilt.
The note introduced in Chapter 6 indicating that a gap exists between two sides of the black population is made clearer by John's words. He says that a large element of the population is glad the tribal society is breaking down, and he cannot explain the nature of the new force that will replace the tribe, the chief, and the church because the motivations are highly ambiguous.
John represents a different way of life in that he has broken with the church and with the tribe and is now living with a new wife. He has shed all the old tribal values and has adopted the more impersonal ways of the city. This outlook stands in direct contrast to Stephen, who has adhered strongly to the old values embedded in the tribe and church. Furthermore, John is glad to be away from the domination of the chief because now he can assert his own importance. We must also realize that he is being used by the party solely because of the strength of his voice; in other words, he has become a voice without heart or morals.
