In class on Thursday, our guest speaker Ervin Beck
asked the class if we thought there was hope given at the end of the book. Hope
for reconciliation, of the sustained church, of a new mindset, or hope in a
maintained mindset even. I said yes. There is a hope in the end, as Thom finds
a middle ground in his internal war.
Since
the beginning of the book, Thom had struggled between ideas of total
peacefulness and the fact they others were dying for their right to believe in
peace. Between complete separation from the world, and living among the others
and reaching out to non-Christians. These concepts waged war in his mind just
as WWII waged on outside the community and the Mennonite community itself waged
its own war against those very ideas, especially acceptance of the “half-breeds.”
In the end, Thom punches Herb to protect his friend, Peter from his assault. He
thinks about this, and he seems to come to terms with it as an action. This is
what Thom decides is the right thing to do: act. In seeing Jackie Labret, Thom
realizes that he must try to tell him the Good News in as pure a manner as
possible, without interpretation one way or another, so that he might hear it
as the disciples did from Jesus. He finds, as he did earlier, that “Truth must
be followed as a Star, though the road is sometimes superhumanly difficult.”
With this insight, he discovers the most hopeful message of the entire book: “Only
a conquest by love unites the combatants.”
His revelations at the end are
somewhat vague in places and up to interpretation, but I feel that Thom rejects
both the idea of fighting in the war and also staying in Wapiti and enjoying
the luxury of peace that other buy for him. He decides on a middle way, a “conquest
by love.” He will go out and act and teach and witness and wage his own war against
the forces of darkness, not fought through violence, but through love and
understanding and teaching. This is the hope in this very broken ending, and it
is the hope for all the Christian world.
This is an interesting interpretation, Kolton. When I finished the book, I did not feel very hopeful--mostly unresolved and confused. I almost wish there was an epilogue, because I'm curious as to how exactly Thom would be able to conquer by love. I think this idea of "conquest by love" has interesting parallels with the title of the book, too.
ReplyDeleteKolton, I appreciate your interpretation of Thom's character--that he would ACT. Too many of the characters in this novel hold back, or else interpret action as serving in the military. Thom's "conquest of love" is indeed a third way. Rudy Wiebe, in an interview, said that his own views of Christianity broadened and deepened after writing this book, especially during the three years that he was a professor at Goshen College. See the end of this blog for the quote:
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