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Rudy Wiebes novel Peace Shall Destroy Many surrounds the lives of the pacifist Mennonites in Saskatchewan during World War II. The main protagonist, Thom Wiens (a young farmer living in the most isolated community in Saskatchewan) makes the book fascinating by posing challenging questions. During wartime, local males would either go to conscientious objector labor camps throughout Canada or would stay behind to care for the fields and raise cattle. He wonders whether the Mennonites opposition to the war would be self-serving. He questions why would Mennonites sit back while others were dying protecting the freedom they enjoy. Rudy tries to question Mennonites nature of peace and compassion for their adversaries while they are selling their goods to the Canadian soldiers for a profit.
Although Rudy Wiebe meant no harm while publishing the book, he found himself in a critical situation that obligated him to resign from his position as the editor of the Mennonite Brethren Herald. This was as a result after his novel aroused great controversy among the Mennonite communities after publishing it in 1962 (Wiebe 2). The Mennonite community had practiced agriculture and Christianity as their lifestyle. Consequently, their Christianity nature alienated them from politics and the military though they affected them greatly. Rudy Wiebe was unafraid to share his wonders openly and philosophically, even conflicts that originate from non-conflict (peace) nature. Similarly, the book enabled Rudy Wiebe to get the measure of racism and sexuality, which was a test of the perception held regarding Mennonites as people.
Weaver adds his contribution to the analysis to the Peace shall Destroy Many by spotting a moral dilemma in the Mennonite community. According to Weavers analysis of the Peace Shall Destroy Many using the question posed by the central character, Thom Wiens; why must we&. love only Mennonites? . In ethnic literature, Weaver identifies a moral challenge that includes sustaining the minority perspective without degrading the outsider (Weaver 215). Unlike mainstream literature, ethnic fiction features insiders who are members of the minority group and outsiders who are generally members of the majority culture. Rudy Wiebe has a difficult time articulating the attitudes of ethnic insiders toward outsiders. He identifies a dilemma in how the insiders should react to their prosecutors in the past, those who have been exploited by the other dominating culture and those with different customs and beliefs from theirs.
Paul Tiessen analyses Wiebes work by identifying intertextual allusion by use of the main protagonist, Wiens through memoir 2006. It encourages readers to view the virtually pure and prelapsarian world of idealistic young Hal Wiens, whose beautiful life in the imaginary realms of Peace Shall Destroy is depicted in the novel (Tiessen 4). Many things go unreported because they are so much in the shadow of his spiritually tormented elder brother, nineteen-year-old Thom Wienss, uncertainties and tensions that define his much broader universe. The memoir encourages readers to reconsider how that novel was received and to look for the linguistic and spiritual joy of life expressed in the young Hals playful perceptions beneath its severe and satiric treatment of the austere adult world. The narrative serves as a springboard for a transformative reread of the novel (Tiessen 4). This article compares and contrasts the two works, as well as the norms that govern their respective genres. It also tries to explain Wiebes 2006 memoirs reading tactics for readers of his debut novel, as well as the primary inspirations that inform the two works.
Weaver and Thiessens interpretation of the novel has enabled them to put the peaceful nature of the Mennonites that was always used as an excuse to escape war during World War II. The theme of Christianity that kept them away from politics and the military was a practice of avoiding conflict and refusal of engagement. What they termed to be should not be exposed could bring up and shield up tyrants and bullies as Rudy Wiebe criticized by calling it as conflicts arising from non-conflict nature. Mennonites have a variety of unique approaches to coping with conflicts. It is a conflict-avoidance strategy that preserves the communitys righteousness while avoiding any settlement or chance of justice. It is murder without the killing, and it stirs up deep wells of wrath that have nowhere to go.
In conclusion, Rudy Wiebes work is what many writers fail to uncover in fear of getting denounced or getting criticized. He successfully presented the lifestyle of the Mennonites and discouraged the spirit of ignorance whose consequences would be severe for any community. He criticized this Mennonites nature by stating that war was bombshell but should not be exposed as another hell. Covering such deeds coated by Christianity nature and non-conflict nature can have a fatal ending and serious repercussions. Everything ought to be put clearly and candidly and dealt with accordingly without ignorance.
Works Cited
Tiessen, Paul. Memoir and the Re-reading of Fiction: Rudy Wiebes of this Rarth and Peace Shall Destroy Many. Text Matters: A Journal of Literature, Theory and Culture, no. 1, 2011. pp. 201-215.
Weaver, Laura H. Mennonites Minority Vision and the Outsider: Rudy Wiebes Peace Shall Destroy Many and The Blue Mountains of China. MELUS, vol. 13, no. 3/4, 1986, pp. 15-26.
Wiebe, Rudy. Peace Shall Destroy Many. Vintage Canada, 2001.
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