Nettie·Melvin

Nettie/Melvin is a member of the community who helps prepare the children for the women’s departure from Molotschna. Her brief appearances connect practical care for the group with a personal change in how she is addressed: when Agata Friesen calls her Melvin, she accepts the name with a smile, then chooses to come along despite admitting she is not ready.

Identity and Recognition

The narrative refers to her as Nettie/Melvin, and Agata Friesen’s use of Melvin is identified as the first time someone has addressed her by her new name. The moment is small but distinct: Melvin smiles at the recognition, and the narration associates the open window and Molotschna sunlight with a sense of communion that now belongs to her. Her response makes the name’s acceptance visible without explaining or defining her identity beyond what the scene gives.

Care and Departure Preparations

When Nettie/Melvin climbs into the loft, she initially stands silent before the women. At Agata Friesen’s request, she reports that the little children are ready: they are clean and fed, and their extra clothing, linen, and boots have been packed in barrels, with their hats in boxes. The inventory gives her news a practical weight. Departure depends not only on the women’s decision but on the children being prepared to travel.

An earlier exchange also establishes that Miep is with Nettie/Melvin. Salome Friesen reports that Miep is unwell and that the pills are not helping; she suspects they may be intended for animals rather than people. The conversation supplies no further account of Nettie/Melvin’s role in Miep’s care, but it places her among those with whom the group’s vulnerable members are staying during the preparations.

News of Those Left Behind

Greta Loewen asks whether Cornelius is ready and whether his wheelchair has been packed. Nettie/Melvin answers that he will not be joining the women: his mother belongs to the Do Nothing group, and he has no choice but to remain with her. The news disappoints Autje Loewen and Neitje Friesen, who are fond of Cornelius’s jokes, comedy, and creativity. Agata Friesen suggests that he and his mother might yet change their minds and join the women elsewhere, but Mariche Loewen rejects that possibility, warning that once the men return, no women will be allowed to leave.

Nettie/Melvin’s report therefore carries more than a checklist of preparations. It marks the limits of the planned departure: the children traveling with the women are ready, while Cornelius’s circumstances keep him behind, and the group understands that the chance to leave may close when the men return.

Her Decision to Go

After Agata Friesen asks whether Melvin is ready for the journey, she does not answer immediately. The women wait; at last, she says she is not ready. The pause leaves her uncertainty plainly in view, but it does not become a refusal. She adds that she is coming with them, making her choice in the face of the same departure whose preparations she has helped report.

Her arc in these scenes moves from standing silently before the group, to being recognized by her new name, to speaking as a bearer of essential news and choosing to join the journey. The combination of hesitation and resolve makes her decision neither effortless nor abstract: she is not ready, but she will go.