Peace Shall Destroy Many: Question #11

The book, Peace Shall Destroy Many by Rudy Wiebe, is set in the 1940s during World War II in a Mennonite community in Wapiti, Canada. Throughout it, we see characters develop, voice their opinions, and other things happen.

To answer the question of whether or not the community is either destroyed or redeemed, I believe the community is destroyed or is being destroyed by the time we finish the book. The major problem is being a pacifist or fight as in a war. Thom, a 17-year-old teenager, begins the book as "following the beliefs of his forefathers," as in, he does not believe in violence. Throughout the rest of the book, we see him begin to question "his beliefs" as time progresses. Annamarie, another one of the teenage characters, seems to give her personal opinion on the war and the pacifists (pages 46 and 105).

Also in the book, we have Deacon Peter Block. To put him in simple terms, he runs the community with an iron fist. Basically, things have to be done the famous quote: It's either his way or the highway. When his daughter, Elizabeth, wants to marry Herman Paetkau, Block says no because Paetkau does not have actual parents (I say "actual parents" because I am not one for swearing). Eventually, we find out that Elizabeth was pregnant, possibly by an Indian. Before she died, she told Thom to leave the community (bottom of 166 to 167). On page 250, Thom seems to gather a backbone and is the first Mennonite person to stand up to Block which, in turn, surprises Block that someone would do so. On 265, Thom hears Hal, his younger brother, ask, "Ain't there anythin' in here for me--at all?" Reading this, it can be interpreted as a question Thom can be asking himself. Is there anything for him if he stays in the community at all? From page 284-285, we see a physical fight occur. On 286, it says, "No Mennonite had looked at another. Shame acknowledged and bare on each face...and driven off as from a funeral..."

At the end of the book, with these quotes and examples, you can gather that the community has been destroyed.