The next morning, in the kitchen, Stella questions a fellow inmate named Opal, determined to continue her investigation into the Colony’s true purpose. When Opal asks why Stella cares, Stella says that she’s just curious and asserts that the women are all here because they did something wrong. Stella says that her parents sent her here because she had a “tumor” that needed to be removed. Opal laughs and says everyone knows about Stella’s “tumor” and tells her to just say “abortion.” Opal shows Stella the scars on her face, which her husband, Jack, inflicted on her. Next, she shows Stella the scars on her wrists, which she did herself. She explains that Jack told her she could go to an “asylum” or to the Colony, so she chose the Colony. 

Next, a woman named Sally tells Stella her story. When Sally got very sick one day, she missed work at the mill, so her boss called her “shiftless” and fired her. Sally adds that she likes to go out and have a drink with her girlfriends sometimes. Hearing the women’s stories, Stella believes that Opal and Sally fit Baker’s description of misbehaving women; Stell sees Opal as a bad wife and Sally as being addicted to alcohol. Opal warns Stella that the doctors might have done more to her than the abortion, saying, “They’ve been known to fix women but good” (234). Stella doesn’t understand what this means. At dinner, she tries to share a book with Frances, but when Baker approaches, Frances’s behavior changes. Stella is certain that Frances is conning everyone and hiding her mental acuity.

Baker asks Stella to come to her office, where Maynard waits. Baker says that Frances has lived in the Colony for a year, and that no teacher has ever been able to reach her. Baker encourages Stella to admit that she wrote the letters and tried to pass them off as Frances’s work. Stella tells the truth, but Maynard insists that Stella is lying and being disobedient. Baker dismisses Maynard, then tries to convince Stella to change her story. Stella begins to understand that it doesn’t matter what she says.

Baker doesn’t know what to do. She is not sure how a group punishment would affect Stella, but she realizes that she has an opportunity to reveal Maynard’s depravity. Baker tells Stella that she will be punished, and Stella follows her quietly to Maynard’s office. When Baker says that Stella will receive group punishment, Stella changes her story, but it is too late to avoid punishment. Baker asks Maynard which women should participate, and Maynard identifies a handful, including Frances and Ruth. Baker decides that all the women should witness the group punishment so that they will fear it and commit fewer infractions. All 42 women are called to the central hall.

When Baker announces Stella’s punishment, Ruth refuses to participate. When Baker threatens Ruth with meditation, and Ruth says she’d rather have that. Baker tells Maynard to proceed as usual and report to her when the punishment is over. Baker then goes down the hall and sneaks into an adjoining classroom so that she can watch, unobserved. She can see Maynard’s eagerness while the other women hold Stella down and avert their faces. Baker is shocked by Maynard’s “uncanny zeal,” then notices Frances glaring at her with rage. Baker sees Frances’s intelligence but is arrested by the guttural moans that Maynard emits as she beats Stella with a switch. When Ruth cries out, telling Maynard to stop, the “emotional dam” breaks. The staff members rush to subdue Maynard, who lashes out at Ruth. Amidst a storm of crying and shouting, Baker snatches the switch from Maynard. Stella wails, and all the residents’ hatred is directed at Baker. As residents and staff members whisper behind their hands, Baker commends Stella for enduring Maynard’s “abhorrent overreaction.” Baker orders Maynard to her office, then leads Ruth to the basement.

Ruth tells Baker that someday, someone will find out what goes on in the basement. Baker tells Ruth that she needs more instruction. For days, Ruth gets little nourishment and dreams of sunshine. She cannot wait to speak to Newell again. By the time Baker returns, Ruth is ready to say anything to get out of meditation. She tells Baker that she regrets her choices, and Baker tests her. She leads Ruth into the next room, where Ruth sees two chains hanging from the ceiling. Dillard and three new residents bring Frances in, and Baker tells Ruth that Frances was caught stealing food. She and the housemother shackle Frances’s wrists, and Frances thrashes around, trying to kick the others. The new women are terrified. Dillard is quite upset, and Ruth can see that Frances is in tears. Ruth refuses to cooperate with Baker, who puts her back in meditation. Days go by, and Ruth cannot eat. Finally, Nurse Crawford brings her some soup that she made at home.

The nurse says that when she was young, she was a resident at another facility similar to the Colony. Her family was poor but managed to make ends meet until her father was laid off. When he died, she stepped up to help her family because she was the oldest. She mostly stole food, but she implies that she also engaged in sex acts for money. When she was caught, her mother was so ashamed that she sent her daughter for reform; there Nurse Crawford had learned about the nursing program and jumped at the chance to become something more than a “disappointment” to her mother. Now, she encourages Ruth to do what she has to get out of the Colony. She also shares that Frances has been sent to the mental hospital in Raleigh.

After a few more days of not eating the food, Ruth grows weak. One day, Baker, Dr. Graham, and Nurse Crawford arrive, and Baker insists that Ruth sincerely admit her wrongdoing. Ruth panics, and at Baker’s direction, Crawford gives Ruth an injection. Ruth spends the next several hours vomiting. By the end of her third week in meditation, Ruth cannot stop shaking. The trio comes again, and Nurse Crawford declares Ruth to be dehydrated. Baker tells the nurse to take Ruth back to quarantine. Ruth has lost a lot of weight, but she finally gets to bathe. She is too tired to eat, and she wakes up the next morning to see the sunlight streaming in.

In the days after Stella’s group punishment, Stella has no motivation and feels that her path to redemption has been ruined, but Sally and Opal try to accommodate her slowness. Stella misses Frances. In the dorm, the women who witnessed her punishment rally around her, but she is uninterested. She does notice that Maynard is conspicuously absent from her daily duties. Eventually, Ruth returns, and Stella is shocked by Ruth’s changed appearance. That night, Ruth tells the women about the “other room” and reveals what happened to Frances. Stella’s eyes fill with tears, and the blur makes all the other women look like angels. Baker enters and overhears, and she tells the women that Frances is in a specialty hospital that can provide better care. Stella makes a silent vow to become invisible again.

However, Baker continues to check on Stella in the dorms and the kitchen. Stella longs for to regain the woman’s approval. One day, Baker catches Stella alone and asks if Stella has had time to think about what happened. Stella can only say that she wishes it had never happened. Baker urges her to look forward, not back. As Baker leaves, one of her legs locks up, and she seems about to fall. She catches herself, but Stella feels a little sympathy for her.

Unwilling to describe Maynard’s abusive actions on an open phone line, Baker calls Woodall to request a meeting. When the day of their meeting comes, Baker believes that Woodall will agree with her assessment that Maynard should be replaced. Instead, he asks his secretary to send Maynard in. Maynard simpers and defers to him, infuriating Baker, who explains what happened with Stella and outlines Maynard’s “abhorrent behavior” and obvious enjoyment of the group punishment. 

Woodall claims that he cannot have Baker and Maynard at odds, so he plans to take the issue to the board. He also reveals that he has received complaints about Baker from Drs. Graham and Greene, who suggest that she is pursuing her personal ambition rather than seeing to the residents’ well-being. Woodall orders Baker to reinstate Maynard and says he will notify them of the board’s decision. When Baker reaches her office, she finds a letter from the hospital indicating that Frances will be returned to the Colony tomorrow. Baker is almost certain that Frances is more capable than anyone believes.