Women Talking by Miriam Toews

Author:Miriam Toews [Miriam Toews]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780571340347
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Published: 2018-11-05T16:00:00+00:00

Ah, the women are stirring, this reverie has ended. I will resume taking the minutes.

Agata speaks.

Salome, she says, there is nothing worse than being a murderer. If you will become a murderer by staying in the colony, side by side with the men who are responsible for the attacks and side by side with the men who are posting enough bail to have the attackers return to the colony while they await trial, then you must, to protect your own soul and to qualify for entry into heaven, leave the colony.

Mariche frowns, unhappy with Agata’s reasoning. We are not all murderers, she objects.

Not yet, says Ona.

Agata nods. Mariche, she says, have you ever considered killing one of or all the men responsible for the attacks?

Never, says Mariche. What dummheit.

Have you ever wished the attackers dead? asks Agata.

Mariche concedes that she has, but instantly asked God to forgive her.

And do you believe your murderous thoughts would multiply if the men were in your vicinity? Agata persists. If you were to see the men every day, and if the men were in a position of authority over you and your children, and it was expected of you, by Peters, to obey these men?

Yes, says Mariche, I believe that would be the case, that my murderous thoughts would multiply under those conditions.

Ah, says Salome, so you do have murderous thoughts.

No, says Mariche, I told you. I only wish the men were dead.

And that is why we must leave, concludes Agata.

Some of the women, including Mariche and Greta, open their mouths to object, and Greta raises her arms in the air.

But Agata continues: I have done what the verse from Philippians instructed, which is to think about what is good, what is just, what is pure, and what is excellent. And I have arrived at an answer: pacifism.

Pacifism, Agata says, is good. Any violence is unjustifiable. By staying in Molotschna, she says, we women would be betraying the central tenet of the Mennonite faith, which is pacifism, because by staying we would knowingly be placing ourselves in a direct collision course with violence, perpetrated by us or against us. We would be inviting harm. We would be in a state of war. We would turn Molotschna into a battlefield. By staying in Molotschna we would be bad Mennonites. We would be sinners, according to our faith, and we would be denied entry to heaven.

Mejal takes a long haul off her cigarette. She exhales, and nods. Agata is right.

Let’s shake a leg, then, Mejal says.

But by staying and fighting, Mariche objects, we will hopefully achieve peace for our children. Eventually. And our colony will remain intact and we will remain apart from the world, not in the world, which is another central tenet of our Mennonite faith.

That’s true, says Agata, but there is no tenet within our faith that demands we stay apart from the world together with men who inspire violence in our hearts and minds.

Ona asks Mariche, Do you really mean that you

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