Women Talking

The first day the women meet begins with them symbolically washing each other’s feet in an act of “service” mirroring Jesus’s actions before the Last Supper. Most of the women are wearing sandals with socks pulled all the way up to their dresses, but the two teenage girls wear sneakers and leave a bit of skin “rebelliously” exposed between their socks and hems. They nearly giggle during the foot-washing ceremony.

Greta opens the meeting by explaining that her two horses, Ruth and Cheryl, respond to threats by bolting. She suggests that because the men have treated the women like animals, they could respond like animals. Salome proposes murdering their attackers instead, to some consternation. Agata counters with a story about a mother raccoon who killed the dog that had killed three of her babies: She says that the animal comparison is a moot point, as animals can respond in different ways.

Mariche suggests the real issue is whether they should forgive the men or seek vengeance, and the women discuss the possibility that they will be barred from heaven if they leave the colony. However, Mariche feels that staying might be worse, as it would force them to choose actively between salvation and forgiving the men. Ona suggests that such forgiveness would be forced and therefore meaningless, opening up a discussion about whether the women have a responsibility to forgive at all; Ona wonders whether God alone can forgive some crimes and whether the women must choose between protecting their children and going to heaven, causing Salome to storm off.

After adjourning, August tells the women about the seemingly uninhabitable Black Sea’s ability to sustain life, and Mariche, Salome, and Mejal debate whether it is August’s place to try to “inspire” them. Intrigued by August’s reference to fossilized soft tissue in the Black Sea, Ona likens the body’s “resilient” soft tissue to the women of Molotschna and ponders the fact that human skin regenerates monthly, like uterine lining.

Autje and Neitje are preoccupied amongst themselves, and Salome is growing annoyed, so Agata steers the conversation back on track. However, when Mariche once again urges “fleeing,” her word choice sparks outrage, especially from Salome. Agata asks for August’s opinion, and he tells a story about a poet who intended to drown himself. He decided to have a drink before doing so and ended up passed out in his boat, which drifted back to a pier where he was welcomed as a famous visitor. This demonstrates that one never knows where one might end up or how one might feel once there.

Salome asks to leave, as she needs to administer medicine her three-year-old daughter, Miep, who was raped at least two times and contracted a sexually transmitted illness. Peters refused to let Salome take her to the doctor because those at the clinic might gossip about the colony, so Salome secretly walked the 12 miles to the clinic to get her medicine. A young woman named Nettie is currently looking after the children; she has refused to speak to anyone else since she was raped and experienced a miscarriage. Nettie has also changed her name to Melvin because, according to Mariche, she can’t bear being a woman. Ona has also become pregnant from the attacks and suffers from morning sickness periodically during the meetings.

While the women take a break, a census taker drives through the colony with a loudspeaker, playing the song “California Dreaming” and announcing that the residents of the colony need to come out and be counted. Only Neitje and Autje respond; they stand near the truck, dreamily listening to the music. When the girls return, they prank the other women by having Autje jump from a window in the barn loft into bales of hay stacked below. They then inform the others they’ve learned, from speaking to the Koop brothers, that some men from Molotschna will likely return early to gather livestock to sell for bail funds.

Ona suggests August tack up a list of the pros and cons for the women’s options, beginning with staying and fighting; they discuss the uncertainty of life outside of Molotschna and the possibility of having to leave people they love. Ona points out that they don’t necessarily know what “fighting” entails and proposes writing a manifesto describing the kind of life they aspire to live—one where men and women make decisions collectively, women are allowed to think, and girls will learn to read and write. When Mariche accuses Ona for being a dreamer to suggest such a thing, Ona says, “[A]ll we women have are our dreams—so of course we are dreamers” (55). Mariche snappishly jokes that someone with Narfa (nervousness) should not be creating a manifesto. Ona smiles, reminding August of her younger sister, Mina, who had a cheerful disposition but hanged herself after her daughter, Neitje, was attacked.

The subject of the men refusing the women’s manifesto comes up, and Ona says that in that case they will kill the men. Agata smooths things over by saying Ona is joking, and the women turn to the pros and cons of leaving. One “pro” would be sidestepping the issue of forgiveness, though, as Mariche sardonically notes, Ona seems to be rewriting religion such that forgiving certain crimes would not be necessary. Ona denies assuming this “authority,” saying she does not believe in authority anyway “because [it] makes people cruel” (59). This sparks another debate, so August prompts the women to move on to the cons of leaving. Mariche verbally attacks him for this, causing Greta to “erupt” in a tirade. The women consider adjourning for the day, but Mejal says they ought to start the list of cons before they do. Salome proclaims, “There are no Cons of Leaving” (63).

Mejal brings up the subject of the men whom the women love—their fathers, sons, husbands, and brothers. They resolve that young boys and men who are elderly or disabled will accompany them and propose several options for the rest: e.g., that those who sign the women’s manifesto might leave with them, or that the men might join them once the women have established their own, more egalitarian community. They feel that they cannot trust the men to follow the new manifesto, so they begin to form a consensus around the latter option. However, Salome is distressed because her son, Aaron, is two years older than the proposed cutoff for boys (12). The women ask August if boys of 13 or 14 pose a threat to the girls and women (15 is the age at which boys join the church and are treated as adults). August says they do but believes the boys should be allowed to leave with the women; they are not too old to learn. When the women discuss how they don’t have a map, August offers to get one and modify it so they can read it through pictures.

The discussion is interrupted first by Mejal experiencing a seizure and then by Nettie arriving to announce that Mariche’s son, Julius, has stuck a cherry pit up his nose. Since Molotschna does not grow cherries, this alerts the women to the fact that the men have returned, and they begin to cover the evidence of what they have been doing. The send the younger girls to tell the other women to cover for them, though they worry that some of the “Do Nothing” women will betray them. Concerned that the men may take animals or supplies the women need if they do decide to leave, the women consider lying to them, sparking a discussion about whether this is justifiable and who, if anyone, will or could forgive them for it. Salome erupts, saying the women do not need to be forgiven for protecting their children. She goes on to question what kind of God would allow what has happened. She says she will kill any man who wants to sexually abuse her three-year-old daughter, telling her mother she will become a murderer if she stays in the colony. Agata says that if Salome will commit murder if the women stay in the colony, then they must leave—or, as Ona suggests, the men could be forced to leave.

Salome reiterates the women’s core desires: They want their children to be safe, they want to keep their faith, and they want to think. Some women express doubt about whether all the men arrested are truly guilty, but Ona points out that while they may not have themselves raped anyone, they are guilty of not stopping the attacks from happening. Mariche suggests, to some agreement, that the men are also victims because of the colony’s authoritarian and patriarchal atmosphere.

Ona frames this idea in terms of power—the control of Bishop Peters and other religious authorities over the colony and the men’s control over the women. She suggests the women have power over their own “souls.” Mariche notes that the desire for power seems natural, as one can observe it in animal behavior, prompting a discussion of whether humans evolved from animals or were created in God’s image. Ona ends the discussion by telling Salome that they can have souls either way. The meeting concludes when a male member of the colony, Grant, climbs the ladder. He has not gone to town with the other men because he is “simple.” The women indulge his ramblings, and the meeting closes.