I sort of struggled with the patriarchy in Peace Shall Destroy Many. In lots of instances I think Rudy Wiebe criticizes the extreme male domination in this Mennonite community, but in some places it doesn't come across as criticism.
The first woman we meet in the book, for instance, is Thom's mother, who appears in the kitchen. Whether this is intentional or unintentional, it reinforces the idea that while the men are out doing substantial work in the fields, the women are inside in the kitchen. His mother is a strong female character, however; when Thom is being impudent and criticizing his father, she is the one to reprimand him (73). Rather than defending herself, though, she is still using her strength to defend a man—Thom's father. Even from a young age people in this community learn the social assumption that women are dumber than men. When Hal and his friends are playing, he says in deprecation, “I guess any girl would build on the north side of trees so she could have all the wind and snow blowin' right on toppa her” (109).
Thom seems somewhat unaware of the plight that women in his community face. When he goes for a drive with Annamarie, he says, seeming to realize for the first time, “'I suppose girls—women—' his confusion bogged him, 'you—don't get much chance to see things if you want'” (41). After Margaret tells him the story of Elizabeth and Herman's thwarted love, he is also unaware of female disadvantage. Margaret says, “Poor Elizabeth,” but Thom “had not thought of her part in the story before” (135).
There are several prominent female characters in the book who seem to be much wiser than their stations as women in the community would allow for. Annamarie and Thom have several conversations in which Annamarie actually challenges Thom's more traditional beliefs about pacifism and distancing themselves from the outside world. Elizabeth is not a strong enough woman to stand up to her father—but neither is anyone in the community, and at least she secretly deviates from her father's patriarchal dictates by having a secret affair. Before she dies, she also goes against her father by telling Thom to get out of the community. Razia is another strong female character, though her strength in some ways comes from her sexuality; she seems to hold power over men, but that power is somewhat illusive because it is derived from her relationships to men.
I wonder how Rudy Wiebe, as a male Mennonite author, went in to writing this novel. He depicts a very patriarchal Mennonite community—which is likely an accurate portrayal—but I sometimes found myself wondering when he was describing it as male-dominated in order to critique that aspect of it and when he was just unconsciously, unintentionally reinforcing those social hierarchies because it is all he knows.
I agree that the gender roles in the novel were clear and traditions, and this was frustrated for me to perceive too, just as it is in real life. However, I do think that Wiebe does acknowledge the downfalls of such structure throughout the novel. Even if a strict patriarchal society is all he's known, I think he does well at shaping the female characters and letting the readers catch onto their strengths. Perhaps I'm an optimistic, but I feel like that was an intentional move on his part toward exposing the limits placed on women in that society.
ReplyDeleteI was also really struck by the portrayal of gender in this novel - but in a somewhat in a different way.
ReplyDeleteOverall it seemed that Thom's mother and Annamarie were portrayed as much wiser, stronger, and more together than Thom or Thom's father. The men, (super-generalizing here), are the angsty, conflicted ones in the novel - the women seemed to have already done that cerebral work for themselves. Even Elizabeth (the only truly angsty woman in the novel) seems to see things more clearly than Thom.
This impression may simply come from the fact that we are only really let into Thom, Block's and Pete's thoughts - and they have a ton of thoughts.
I agree with Sara, in a way, but also disagree. I felt as though, although the women are the levelheaded ones, and the men are the angsty, conflicted ones, there was still a total undevelopment of the female characters, so despite their levelheadedness, it seemed that few of them represented anything beyond either the power and simultaneous weakness of Razia or the inexplicable and unpursued intelligence of Annamaire and Mrs. Wiens. This was certainly a frustrating aspect of the novel!
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