A Complicated Kindness Literary Analysis

Consequences of overshadowing authority in Miraim Toews’

“A Complicated Kindness”

The presence of overbearing authority figures in Miriam Toews’ “A Complicated Kindness” proves that when excessive stringency is applied, negative consequences are created within the target being “controlled”. The groups being influenced may therefor retaliate in acts of defiance or fall under domineer of their authority figures in which case it could represent religion, government and parental authority. This point is emphasized in the novel through events and behaviors by the characters such as social outburst perceived as “taboo”, acts of rebellion and search for “outlets”, the idea of “double life” and conformity within a community causing people to become less self-aware.

Due to lack of freedom and expression in East village in “A

complicated Kindness”, outbursts occur within the town after having kept their feelings bottled up. An example of one of these caused by individuals feeling oppressed is the “swearing man” as he is referred to in the novel, who was once “kind and just.” (Toews 164) until, after being excommunicated, “rode his bike around town, in a suit and tie, and swore.” (Toews 164). Excommunication in the novel is often times dealt with by isolation, which was the case of the swearing man. He was forced to live alone in a shack next to his previous house; still inhabited by his family (Toews 164) from which he developed “inappropriate” behaviors most likely due to his seclusion and the lack of compassion in the town ruled with an iron fist; without flexibility when it comes to religious matters. Other evidence to support the idea that prospects for free thoughts were scarce and in turn, created instability in the town would be when Trudie confronts the Mouth: “tell Nomi you’re sorry. (…) Ask her to forgive you, Trudie said. You’ve scared the shit out of her, Hans. Tell her you’re sorry. Tell her! Tell her it’s not true. Tell her they are stories. You know nothing about love, nothing. You know nothing about anything at all and I hate you so much.” (Toews 171) she then proceeds to throw rocks at the Mouth’s house and scream profanities.

This demonstrates how a person can only take so much abuse before the irritability is too much and they need to lose their temper. To avoid theses outbursts, the people of the community find outlets to cope with irritations and by acting rebelliously.

A traditional consequence when it comes to strictness is retaliation through acts of rebellion or “outlets” to channel frustrations. In the novel, there are many acts of rebellion, and mostly all characters have some type of outlet. For example, to cope with the idea of where her mother and sister may be, Nomi says: “I use drugs and my imagination to block that question.” (Toews 54). It is then established that she considers these things as an escape; a way of grieving without publicly doing so since it would be considered an “outburst” which is frowned upon in her community. She is forced to shift her focus towards a “remedy” such as drugs, smoking her “Sweet Caps” (Toews 85) as well as music that will keep her quiet and maintain stability; stability being a

fundamental block in the community of East Village dictated by the Mouth. The character of Ray, though he seems put together also has outlets such as: negative experiences (Toews 160), solving mysteries, garbage sorting, scientific theories and his yellow lawn chair (Toews 164). These are all things that, to Ray, keep him occupied and help repress his grief and frustrations without actually taking any kind of action. When Trudie was excommunicated: “The Mouth came to pray with us, and my dad began to spend his evenings sitting in the yellow lawn chair and staring at the highway, or down in the basement with his isotope material, finding comfort in the stability that’s created from decay.” (Toews 164). Ray deals with his troubles caused by religion with facts, he needs to find logic where there seems to be none, this is why he’s so interested in “stability that’s created from decay”, it implies that even in dust there can be hope. He spends his days in his beloved yellow lawn chair just thinking as he watches the highway, this is his time everyday to process and perhaps to rationalize his faithfulness to his community and his religion and find reasons why the norms of these maintain such a following when in reality, it tears his family apart. Despite all this, it provides a sense of security and knowledge, which Ray is fond of. When looking at acts of rebellion, as tools to counter the “almighty” presence of religious structure in the community there are many cases in “A Complicated Kindness”, most of which are from the teenagers. The typical “Menno girl” look described by Nomi in chapter 22: “Great Scott jeans, Greb Kodiaks, tube top, Fawcett hair, and tons of base. Same as everyone else. Here comes Menno girl.” (Toews 184). This was how young girls rebelled: enough to get a rise out of people but not enough to actually go to hell. It was their way of pushing boundaries yet they were still trapped in a sense by governmental power in the same way that Nomi writes her papers as if there are no restrictions and openly questions religion, they are continuously looking for changes when: “It’s hard grieving in a town where everything that happens is God’s will. It’s hard to know what to do with your emptiness when you’re not supposed to have emptiness.” (Toews 173) While some rebel openly as a consequence to authority, others maintain a certain degree of secrecy while defying the procedures.

In order to maintain their places in the “lineup to heaven” people maintain these roles to keep up with appearances in public which causes instability between how people act and how they really are. The matter of “public” vs. “private” life is symbolically mentioned by Nomi when she is describing the laundry: “Doing the laundry can be a really interesting and intriguing process. Emptying people’s pockets, noticing odors and stains and items, folding the clothes afterwards, opening drawers, putting everything away (…) it’s where the drama starts.” (Toews 27). This statement represents “private life” and makes the parallel between dirty laundry and “dirty secrets”. Everyone has them and it’s how well they can play their expected roles of “wife” or “catholic” or “daughter” which determine the impact their secrets may have in public life; the drama starts in private. A concrete example of “double life” is the character of Trudie who plays typical Mennonite wife in public, yet adventurous and carefree at home. Nomi states that she can’t decide which side of Trudie Ray liked best: “the docile church basement lady in the moon boots or the rebellious chick with the sexy lingerie.” (Toews 10) The fact that the character of Trudie cannot freely express who she is in public suggests that social norms in the Mennonite community are exceedingly resilient; it is therefor more important to keep social stability than it is to genuinely be content, only for the sake of religion and tradition. This oppression is so powerful that the aspect of public and private life affects even the spokesperson for religion and subjugation in East Village: The Mouth. When Nomi describes the Mouth as once being youthful and “free”, until he: “gave up and came back here [East village] full of renunciations and ideas of purging every last bastion of so-called fun in this place and a greatly renewed interest in death and fresh loathing of the world.” (Toews 50). It can be argued that The Mouth still maintains a “private side” of resentment and tiredness when Nomi observes him in his home at night. The Mouth’s character can be directly contrasted to the character of Tash both of which maintain these “extreme personas” each on different ends of the spectrum. Tash being “ear-marked for damnation” (Toews 12), openly criticizes the system, making jokes about how unrealistic her religion is and offering comedy in church using “John Lennon” as a replacement for “Jesus Christ” (Toews 17). Tash is therefore not subjected to the consequence of “double life” since everything she does is genuine and spiteful the same way the Mouth became after heartbreak. The gravity of influential authority in East village causes unsteadiness in personal and social life: “Things we don’t know about people that makes them human” (Toews 98), consequently the whole concept of private life in the Mennonite community takes away from relationships.

Lack of personal freedom in the community of “A Complicated Kindness”, creates the concept of “groupthink” meaning the town is shadowed by a single train of though powering it as a whole mechanism with no room for self-awareness or personal opinions and values. This point is emphasized in the novel when Nomi compares The Mouth to a dictator, exerting complete control over his population: “notoriously harsh and badly dressed regime” (Toews 26) as well as use of propaganda: “It was The Mouth making threats and using God as a dummy.” (Toews 174) By stating the Mouth has a “regime” Nomi is insinuating there is no option to stand out, no opportunities for enlightenment or personal gain since everyone follows the same pattern and stepping out of line has consequences that most are unprepared to face since they lack knowledge or cling to comfort in their religion. It can be noticed that the system discourages self-awareness in its community when the reader finds out that: “It was the biggest sin in our town to be sure of yourself.” (Toews 65) Therefore, it can be conclude that the church doesn’t believe in people thinking for themselves or having independence, the more oblivious they are the easier they are to manipulate like cattle. This concept of “being trapped” is paralleled to Happy Family Farms, in the sense that the Mennonites in the community are like trained chickens going along this conveyer belt, waiting for death, never breaking from the line. There are no trains to leave, and nothing enters their world. Nomi claims: “There is no separation of Church and State, just a reality of understanding, and The Mouth is behind the wheel of it all.” (Toews 183). Every aspect of the town is saturated in religion, therefor it is impossible for moments of release, it is perpetual. The haunting thought of damnation follows the community and they are silenced by it. Nomi describes the town as having “an invisible force that exerts a steady pressure on our words like a hand to an open, spurting wound.” (Toews 4). This very dark description suggests there are no opportunities for fulfillment and that life in East village is solely based on being controlled and maintaining stability when the outside world is bursting with chaos. At the end of the novel, Nomi states that: “A little blood helps keep the dust down.”(Toews 215). Sacrifice is necessary to keep order and when a community is suppressed by religious beliefs and fear they will follow without personal opinion or self-awareness.
It can be concluded that the presence of oppression caused by authority in Miraim Toews’ novel “A Complicated Kindness” creates consequences in individuals as well as the community as a whole. Different coping mechanisms are used such as remaining unenlightened and conforming to society’s norms, channeling frustrations through means of outlets or rebellious acts, denial and confusion and instability between personal values and community values. Despite these faults, there always remains the hope and sense of security that comes from belonging to something: “Is it wrong to trust a beautiful lie if it gets you through life.” (Toews 246)