Essay on Peace Like a River, by Leif Enger

People are colliding into battles continuously around the globe. It's not always a physical brawl between two armed forces but it also occur mentally and emotionally. On page 139 of A Separate Peace, a quote was mentioned by Gene, "...because it seemed clear that wars were not made by generations and theirs special stupidities but that wars were made instead by something ignorant in the human heart..." This quote can relate to the novel, a personal experience and another literary work.

Right off the bat, the novel starts out with a miracle. It is the miracle of Reuben, who was born with lung issues. When confronted with his not breathing son, Jeremiah commands Reuben, “Reuben Land, in the

In Leif Enger’s Peace like a River, Reuben’s younger sister Swede composes poetry in order to understand what is happening in her own life and her poetry has parallels to the journey she and her family are on within the course of the novel. Throughout the entirety of the novel we can depict the meaning behind Swede’s poetry and can sense how she reacted to the events around her. This novel and the poetry within clearly shows God’s hand at work and it is obvious that Jeremiah, Reuben and Swede agree.

Throughout Peace Like a River, Jeremiah performs miracle after miracle. These miracles are as simple as fixing an unfixable saddle, providing an endless bowl of soup, and saving Reuben’s life twice. When first encountering these miracles I personally was left in a state of awe and wonder. Jeremiah’s faith was so strong his children and some readers compared him to prophets or even Jesus. When Jeremiah is in doubt or in need he turns directly to God and goes into deep prayer. Reuben looks up to his father in awe and as the narrator of the book he is one of the main or only witness to

In the book, Peace Like a River, Reuben as the narrator depicts Jeremiah as a divine mortal. The first time Reuben paints this picture is in the first chapter. Reuben states that Jeremiah says, “Reuben Land, in the name of the living God I am telling you to breathe”(Page 2). Jeremiah some how manages to bring back a child who hasn’t been breathing for 12 minutes. Reuben proceeds to assert “the answer, it seems to me now, lies in miracles”(page 2). In the start of the book, Jeremiah is already portrayed as a blessed person. Later on in the book every time a miracle happens, the Reuben will say make of it what you will. In the end, Jeremiah performs one last miracle and sacrifices his life for Reuben, affirming him as a great parent and person

This was a personal sacrifice he has to make in order to fulfill his role as a prophet. “For thus said the Lord, concerning the sons and daughters that are born in this place, and concerning their mothers that bare them, and concerning their fathers that begat them in this land, Jeremiah 16:3, (Spirited Filled Life Bible). Knowing the fate of his people, Jeremiah was not allowed to deal with family. Jeremiah's life and teachings had a profound effect on the future development of both Judaism and Christianity. In the New Testament, many passages indicate that both Jesus and Paul not only accepted certain ideas from Jeremiah but gave them a central place in their own interpretations of the meaning of religion. For this reason, along with others, Jeremiah is often the collection of writings that make up the Book of Jeremiah includes oracles, addresses, prayers, and exhortations, all of which were spoken by the prophet himself,

In the novel, Peace Like a River by Leif Enger, the author discusses a story of a Minnesota family narrated by Reuben Land, where he explains the several miracles his father, Jeremiah Land, performed throughout his lifetime. Jeremiah Land is a single father with three children. Davy Land being the eldest son, Reuben being the middle, and Swede Land being the youngest daughter. Leif Enger is an American author who dreamed to be a fiction writer ever since he was a teen. The genre of this novel is fiction.

The best way to deal with situations is to walk away and Jeremiah proved to have such discipline.

I felt from the beginning that Reuben Land, even as a young child, was unsure of his faith or the miracles of God. But, he is often the only person that witnesses his father’s miracles. Reuben reflects that, “The fact is, the miracles that flowed from my father’s fingertips had few witnesses but me. Yes, enough people saw enough strange things that Dad became the subject of a kind of misspoken folklore in our town, but most ignored the miracles as they ignored Dad himself” (3-4). Reuben often looks to his dad as a hero and recounts the early miracles by saying, “I now think of my survival as my father’s first miracle” (5); “the second, I suppose, is that the doctor turned out wrong

Jeremiah had been working at Rueben and Swedes school as a janitor. After the two murders Superintendent Holgren began to treat Jeremiah differently, as he allowed his opinion to determine whether or not Jeremiah deserved the job. Holgren made work even more difficult and disagreed with everything that Jeremiah did. Jeremiah, being the calm person that he was, never retaliated with negative words. He allowed Holgren to mistreat him, even in front of the staff and students in the school. Holgren finally resorted to firing Jeremiah in front of everyone, but Jeremiah simply touched his face and walked away.

The ignorance and innocence of the summer session are quickly fragmented when the seriousness of Gene’s actions are unveiled with Finny’s death.

A Separate Peace, which was written by John Knowles, has many themes. They are interconnected throughout the book. The most clearly portrayed theme is fear. It seems to be connected with the themes of friendship, jealousy, and war. As World War II was occurring, fear had taken over Gene's life through these various themes. When he visited Devon fifteen years after leaving the school, Gene claimed, "I had lived in fear while attending the school and I can now feel fear's echo" (Knowles 10). He felt like he had gained a separate peace after escaping from this fear.

Jeremiah may be one of the most intriguing and revealing of the Old Testament prophets. With his continual return to god and the constant struggle between his heart and the voice of god. This elevates him as a human being and not just as an instrument of god (Paterson 144). He is one of the most human of prophets mentioned in the Old Testament and at the same time most Christ like in aspects of his sermons and works. His story has intrigued many for it is of human weakness and strength (Paterson 139). Let us now take a look at his life and at his works.

Many people find themselves influenced by others who have more power than them every day. This is seen a lot in the town of Maycomb, Alabama, in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. Many children in this town follow the paths of their family members, or join the misadventures of their friends. Usually, the paths that these individuals take are positive and are encouraged by their family and peers. However, the characters Mayella Ewell and Boo Radley are influenced by their dominant family members to do deeds that most people find odd or unappetizing, separating them from the community in a negative way. As a result, the decisions made by superior characters have molded the lives of Mayella and Boo.

and more specifically Peace Like a River, imagination is introduced into the novel through an exceptional movement, known as Romanticism. Romanticism revolved around a new form of writing resulting in a major shift between faith in the matter and faith in the senses, and mainly pertains to the individual, intuition, and imagination. Clearly it can be argued that Romanticism is a major attribute and strong support system in the novel Peace Like a River, by its use of imagination. Reuben’s “description” of Davy as “an awed hush…” when he enters the courtroom explores the possibility of what is expected isn’t always what is. As well, Reuben’s views and thoughts of what Mr. Ford’s character and disposition appeared to be even though he hadn’t even met the man. Finally, Swede’s ballads and tales about Sunny Sundown clearly describe the Romantic ideas and elements such as imagination. Therefore, it is quite clear that Leif Enger’s novel, Peace Like a River, is most definitely a Romantic novel with the element of imagination, due to the three factual events that occur: Reuben’s view over Davy when presented in the courtroom, Reuben’s description over Lonnie Ford without even meeting, and Swede’s ballads