Chapter 5

Info

• page: 38-46
• place: Grant's school on the plantation
• time: morning - mid day
• people: Grant, pupils, Pichot's servant

Content

• The following morning, Grant goes to the school on the plantation, where he teaches primary school pupils. The school is located on the premises of a former church and an altar that was used for Sunday collections serves as Grants table
• Since Grant's pupils have to help out on the farm as well as go to school, he can only teach them for five and a half months of the year
• Grant is bad-tempered and punishes his pupils for trifles, even though they try hard to be good
• During his break, he steps outside to look at the houses around his school. The teacher knows exactly about the individual fates of the inhabitants in the village
• Back in the classroom, he comes across a pupil playing with an insect. Grant hits the boy on the back of the head with the ruler
• Upset, Grant is tricked into telling his class about Miss Emma's mission to take care of Jefferson
• He explains to his students how Jefferson will die and claims that he must make Jefferson a man. He also explains what makes a man and how he also tries to educate his students to be men
• When the lesson is almost over, a man of small stature comes into the church and asks Grant to come along because Mr Pichot wants to see him

Chapter 6

Info

• page: 47-56
• place: Pichot's residence on the plantation
• time: afternoon
• people: Grant, Henri Pichot, the maid, Sam Guidry, Edna Guidry, Louis Rougon, a fat man

Content

• One of the maids meets Grant at the back door of the kitchen, and she informs the primary school teacher that Henri Pichots brother-in-law, Sheriff Sam Guidry, will be arriving shortly
• Another half hour passes by before Edna enters the kitchen. She asks him many questions, but never gives him an opportunity to answer. She drinks bourbon, and she says she feels sorry about Jefferson and the murder
• One hour and fifteen minutes later, Sheriff Sam Guidry, Henri Pichot, Louis Rougon, and a fat man walk into the kitchen. Guidry asks Grant how long he has been waiting, and Grant tells him flatly, “About two and a half hours.” Grant realizes he should have grinned and said, “Not long,” but his anger and pride prevented him from being submissive
• Guidry asks what Grant wants to do with Jefferson, and Grant politely answers that he does not know. After a while, the sheriff informs him that he can see Jefferson in a few weeks, although he thinks Grant’s efforts will fail, and Grant should let Jefferson die a “contented hog.” Moreover, the sheriff says that Grant will lose his visiting privileges if he “aggravates” Jefferson

Chapter 7

Info

• page: 57-64
• place: Grant's school on the plantation
• time: A period over several weeks
• people: Grant, Dr Joseph Morgan

Content

• A few weeks pass and the superintendent's visit is due for Grant. Grant places great importance on the clean and neat appearance of his classroom as well as his students. Finally, the time has come and Superintendent Dr Morgan arrives at the school
• In the meantime, the once agile, robust man has become a frail gentleman who can only walk with help. The primary school teacher helps the headmaster into the classroom, and thereupon Dr Morgan examines the individual pupils
• He calls on some of the boys and girls, and it is noticeable that the problem pupils and class clowns, in particular, are singled out. Dr Morgan first looks at the pupils' teeth and then asks them to quote verses from the Bible. The fact that one pupil, for example, does not know the verses in question does not so much disappoint the headmaster as confirm his fears
• Grant silently thinks to himself that the examination of the pupils is similar to the inspection of slaves and secretly disapproves of how roughly the headmaster treats the children. After Dr Morgan lectures the students on the importance of healthy eating, physical hygiene and hard work, he surprisingly takes a liking to Grant's class
• Grant, on the other hand, is annoyed that he is not allowed to use new textbooks in his classes, but has to use the old shabby and dirty books of the white school. The headmaster cannot understand Grant's annoyance at the social injustice and remarks that not only black but also white schools are not doing well in times like these
• Dr Morgan leaves with the questionable suggestion of using the students as field workers so that Grant can buy new school equipment with the money earned

Chapter 8

Info

• page: 65-72
• time: A few weeks
• place: Memories of Grant, when he went to school on Pichot's plantation
• people: Grant, Mr Antoine

Content:

• The following week, the first load of wood supplies arrives for the school, which the students have to chop, saw and grind. Grant takes himself back to his school days and thinks, in the process of his teacher Mr Antoine
• When Grant thinks of Mr Antoine, he remembers him as a discontented, bitter and evil man who hated both teaching and his students. Unlike most in the area, Mr Antoine was not a black man, but as Grant says, a mulatto
• Mr Antoine tended to have a racist attitude towards black people and justified his dislike by saying that he could not understand how black people could want to learn in a world where they were only second class
• After school Grant had gone to university to study and eventually decided to return to the plantation to teach
• Mr Antoine, while wishing Grant well at the time, did not believe in an end to disadvantages for the black population