The Endless Steppe

Esther and her family arrive at the gypsum mine, a site “so bleak that it made the village of Rubtsovsk attractive by comparison” (43). They are led into a large wooden building, a former schoolhouse, where they are told to wait. Finally, Makrinin, the director of the mine, introduces himself. He is a kind man, and he apologetically delivers the work assignments: “The orders are for the men to drive carts and work in the mine. The women will dynamite, the children will work in the fields, and the old people will shovel the gypsum” (49).

Back in the schoolhouse, Samuel criticizes the “insanity” of the work assignments, and Raya admonishes him to be quiet. Grandmother worries about the fate of her husband, and Esther is startled to see her—along with the other elderly exiles—shown no deferential treatment. Like everyone else, they sleep on the bare floor in the hot, crowded room. Esther “[speaks] to a shaft of moonlight” (50), thanking God for being able to work in the field and feeling “very saintly […] to be so thankful in this terrible place” (51). In the middle of the night, two village girls sneak watermelon to the Polish exiles.

In the morning, the family is divided according to their work assignments.