August’s Return to Life

Women Talking

August Epp returns from prison intending to rebuild a life, then finds purpose in witnessing and preserving the women’s words.

increasing

Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

Exile and Shame Exile and Shame from "Women Talking". A Child Marked by Shame Leaving the Colony August Epp remembers leaving Molotschna with his parents after their excommunication.

Exile and Shame from "Women Talking". A Child Marked by Shame Leaving the Colony August Epp remembers leaving Molotschna with his parents after their excommunication.

A Child Marked by Shame Leaving the Colony August Epp remembers leaving Molotschna with his parents after their excommunication. As a child, he believes his own sins caused their departure. A Need for Forgiveness He spells his name with stones so God can find and punish him. Monica Epp comforts him, but his sense of culpability persists.

A Life Outside A Life Outside from "Women Talking". Exile Becomes Crisis Politics and Prison In England, August studies, joins political activities, and is imprisoned.

A Life Outside from "Women Talking". Exile Becomes Crisis Politics and Prison In England, August studies, joins political activities, and is imprisoned.

Exile Becomes Crisis Politics and Prison In England, August studies, joins political activities, and is imprisoned. His mother dies, his father disappears, and he is left without a stable home. Suicidal Resolve He considers ending his life while living near a public library. A librarian listens to his history and urges him to return to Molotschna.

The Return Arrangement The Return Arrangement from "Women Talking". A Conditional Homecoming Re-admission August asks Peters to accept him back.

A Conditional Homecoming Re-admission August asks Peters to accept him back. He agrees to teach English and mathematics and be baptized, but refuses to renounce his parents. A Precarious Place Peters permits him to stay in a shed and work as a schoolteacher. August returns to a community whose rules had driven his family away.

The Minutes Give Purpose The Minutes Give Purpose from "Women Talking". Witness and Recorder A Task from Ona Ona Friesen asks August to record the meetings, although the women cannot read the minutes.

The Minutes Give Purpose from "Women Talking". Witness and Recorder A Task from Ona Ona Friesen asks August to record the meetings, although the women cannot read the minutes.

Witness and Recorder A Task from Ona Ona Friesen asks August to record the meetings, although the women cannot read the minutes. He accepts because he would do anything for her. An Unanticipated Function The record becomes more than a document for its immediate readers. It gives August a reason to stay present, listen carefully, and serve the women’s future.

Choosing to Stay Alive Choosing to Stay Alive from "Women Talking". A Life Reconsidered The Gun Remains August has a gun and had planned to kill himself after the women left.

Choosing to Stay Alive from "Women Talking". A Life Reconsidered The Gun Remains August has a gun and had planned to kill himself after the women left.

A Life Reconsidered The Gun Remains August has a gun and had planned to kill himself after the women left. Their departure leaves him alone with the same despair, but also with a new responsibility. Teaching as Service He chooses to remain alive and teach the boys. He understands that taking the minutes and helping the women have become forms of participation in the world.

August’s childhood, before the move to England

August’s university years and imprisonment in England

Spring 2008, when August returns to Molotschna

June 6–7, 2009, during the women’s meetings

June 7, 2009, after the women depart