This chapter zooms out of the story to explain the mechanism that displaces so many farmers.

The dust settles on the crops and the croppers must borrow to stay above water. When crops fail again, neighbors are employed by the bank to reclaim the land. Some are kind and some are mean, but all work because they need to feed their own families - 'a bank or a company...don't breathe air, don't eat side-meat. They breathe profits; they eat the interest on money.'

Likewise, the croppers are victims of 'progress' - 'The tenant system won't work any more. One man on a tractor can take the place of twelve or fourteen families.' They are forced off the land. The men were troubled. 'And the women went on with the work, but all the time they watched the men squatting in the dust—perplexed and figuring..'

The tractors take orders from the bank. The bank take orders from the East. No-one is culpable. No-one is held to account.