Religious Persecution

The idea of religious persecution is a major theme in this novel. There are two facets of religious persecution dealt with by Nomi's story. First, there is the persecution of the Mennonites by the Russians. Second, there is the persecution of the Mennonites by others of their own religion.

It is the first type of religious persecution that causes East Village to come into creation. Trudie's parents are among the first people who had come to Canada to escape from the persecution by the Russians. Basically, because the Mennonites had wanted to live a different style life from everyone else, they had been killed and their possessions destroyed. Even in Nomi's time, Mennonites are still fleeing to East Village from Paraguay to escape religious persecution.

As Tash points out, however, East Village is a failed experiment. It had been created and intended as a haven for the...