Part Three: The Dog Grins: Chapters 17 - 20 Summary

Joy: Joy's relationship with her husband's parents are improving slightly, but she knows she will never belong with them. She has been feeling nauseous lately, and wonders if it's because of the drinking water. Her thoughts about this are interrupted by the loudspeaker demanding that everyone make their way to the canteen although it is not a mealtime. Joy is terrified by what she sees there: Yong sitting on stage next to the brigade leader. She has a white ribbon pinned to her chest which shows that she has been denounced from the commune. The brigade leader announces that Yong is a parasite to the commune, her "bourgeois" bound feet have prevented her from working in the fields, and yet she still eats the commune food. He repeatedly spouts the communist...