Summary

Chapter 17. After waiting for many hours, Richard receives assurance of food at the relief station. The relief agency assigns him to a variety of jobs, one of which is at a large research hospital where he cleans the cages of the lab animals. He works with four other Negros who accept their lot in life much more readily than he does. Richard, as always, is curious and wants to learn. When he asks one of the doctors about some of the research, the doctor ignores his questions and says, “If you know too much, boy, your brains might explode.”

Two of the other workers are older men, Brand and Cooke, who hate each other. One day their dislike and frustration come to a boil, and they get into a fight. When Richard realizes these two are seriously ready to cut each other, he steps in...