"We believe world peace is inevitable"
About this Quote
Calling world peace "inevitable" is either radical optimism or a novelist's sleight of hand: a declaration that reads like prophecy but functions more like plot device. Anne Perry isn't issuing a policy brief; she's performing a moral wager. "We believe" matters as much as "world peace". The line quietly shifts peace from outcome to identity. It's less a forecast than a badge: to believe is to belong, to position oneself on the side of history that supposedly has an arc and a destination.
The subtext is intriguingly double-edged. "Inevitable" can comfort, but it can also anesthetize. If peace is guaranteed, why take risks, make sacrifices, confront the ugly machinery that profits from conflict? Perry's phrasing lets the reader feel righteous without being asked for specifics. That fuzziness is part of its cultural usefulness: a slogan that can sit comfortably in a living room, a church hall, or a fundraising gala, vague enough to unify people who disagree on everything else.
Context deepens the tension. Perry, known for crime fiction steeped in Victorian social order and moral reckoning, understands that violence isn't an aberration; it's baked into institutions and respectable surfaces. Coming from that sensibility, "inevitable" reads less like naivete and more like an attempted counterspell against cynicism. It's a writer insisting that narrative momentum can be ethical momentum: if we can imagine an ending, we might behave as if we're responsible for reaching it.
The subtext is intriguingly double-edged. "Inevitable" can comfort, but it can also anesthetize. If peace is guaranteed, why take risks, make sacrifices, confront the ugly machinery that profits from conflict? Perry's phrasing lets the reader feel righteous without being asked for specifics. That fuzziness is part of its cultural usefulness: a slogan that can sit comfortably in a living room, a church hall, or a fundraising gala, vague enough to unify people who disagree on everything else.
Context deepens the tension. Perry, known for crime fiction steeped in Victorian social order and moral reckoning, understands that violence isn't an aberration; it's baked into institutions and respectable surfaces. Coming from that sensibility, "inevitable" reads less like naivete and more like an attempted counterspell against cynicism. It's a writer insisting that narrative momentum can be ethical momentum: if we can imagine an ending, we might behave as if we're responsible for reaching it.
Quote Details
| Topic | Peace |
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