ed white economic exploitation, political domination, and social privilege. These doctrines were reinforced with a harsh and intrusive security system, separate and unequal education, job discrimination, and residential segregation. Such fundamental rights as protection against search without a warrant and the right to a trial were violated. A severe anti-Communist law was passed in 1950. It equated Communism with any struggle for political, economic, or social change, and served as an excuse to arrest many of the government's opponents.
             In 1952, the Natives Act substituted a single reference book for 11 existing pass laws. It was a crime for black men and women from the age of 16 upwards to be without their books, which gave their personal information and also their employment record. At the same time an amendment to the Natives Act applied strict regulations to all urban areas; a black person entering such an area had only 72 hours to find employment before being subject to arrest. Amendments to the laws in 1955, 1957, and 1964 made it increasingly difficult for blacks to qualify for permanent residence in any urban area. The aim was to control the population in such a way that only single male contract laborers could go to work in urban areas, and they could work for no more than a year before returning to the rural areas. What became known as "endorsing out" took place, which meant that Africans without work in an urban area had their passes stamped to show that they had to return to the rural areas.
             It is the pass laws that present to Jezile her first obstacle. After her failed attempt to become pregnant during her husband's brief stay home, Jezile comes to accept that she must take action if she wishes for
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