Chapters 9-10 Summary

Joan is asking some dangerous truth-seeking questions, such as how we could know if the holy resurrection was real, since no one actually saw it. Gerold warns her of the danger in asking questions one should not ask. He tells her the story of a stoning incident of innocents whose similar ideas appeared heretical.

In the classroom, Odo is physically abusive to the stoic Joan, infuriating Gerold.

Joan detests her passage into womanhood and all of its inconveniences, and begins to bind her breasts to avoid comments from the male students. There is no peer group Joan fits into, and she is reliant on her relationship with Gerold, who gives her the first precious book she has read that is not a sacred text. "Lucretius" in her book says one has only to observe the natural world to know the truth...