Summary

After her first meeting with John, Sarny experiences a traumatic event. She tells the story of a girl named Alice. Alice slept near Sarny in the bedroom but was a bit “addled in the head,” which is why Sarny didn’t spend much time with her. The day after Sarny’s first reading lesson, Waller sees that Alice will make a good breeder and sends her to the breeding shed. When she didn’t want to mate, he orders her to be tied down and the breeding men force themselves on her. Afterward, Alice wanders mindlessly around the plantation. She wanders over to the big house in the middle of night. Waller is so enraged that he strips Alice naked in the spring house and whips her until the skin hangs like rags on her back. Then he orders Mammy to get salt and rub it...