Peace Like a River: Similarities to The Bible Essay

Peace Like A River and Its

Similarities To The Bible

Peace Like a River is a novel written by Leif Enger. The book takes place in the 1960s in Minnesota and also the badlands of North Dakota. The narrator and also main character of the book is Reuben Land. Reuben is the son of Jeremiah Land who is very religious and performs miracles that only Reuben seem to witness. Reuben has two siblings, Swede and Davy. Swede is his younger sister who loves literature and likes to write poems and eventually writes a story of their adventures across the country. Davy is Reubens older brother who is very protective of his family. Jeremiah catches two bullies, Israel Finch and Tommy Basco, trying to rape Davys girlfriend and fights them off which makes them mad and causes them to retaliate. They start by tarring the door of the Lands house and then they kidnap Swede when she is home alone which makes the family mad, especially Davy. He tries to explain the situation to Reuben by saying, We and the world, my children, will always be at war. Retreat is impossible. Arm yourselves.(4) Davy feels that they should do something in retaliation but Jeremiah says they should leave the two bullies alone. Davy takes matters into his own hands and antagonizes the two bullies by breaking out the lights of Israel Finchs car. When the two boys come to the Land house to get revenge, Davys waiting with a rifle and kills both the boys. The rest of the novel is about Davys life on the run from the law and also the Land familys search for Davy across the country.

The main theme throughout the story is that miracles are only miracles if there is someone to witness them. Reuben believes that because god allowed Jeremiah to spare him at birth by saying, Reuben Land, in the name of the living God I am telling you to breathe (3). He is supposed to witness all of Jeremiahs miracles and spread the word of them to anyone who will listen. There are many miracles that Jeremiah performs throughout the story such as when he walks on air, lets Reuben live at birth, survives the tornado, heals the superintendents face, and the most important, is when Jeremiah trades places with Reuben when they are shot. Jeremiah knows that by trading places he will be able to give Reuben life for a second time, more importantly he will be able to go to heaven and be with God.

Although miracles are main theme of this story it is also apparent that the decisions of the Land family are entirely in the hands of God and there is a reason for everything. This is apparent in almost all of the decisions that the members of the Land family make, especially Davy. Davys choice to kill the two boys to stop their harassment affects his entire family. The Land family has to leave the life they are used to and drive across the country in search of Davy to make sure that he is ok. Another example is when Reuben takes the search party out to show them where Davy is hiding he tries to take them down a false trail which ends up severely hurting one member of their party and causing his horse to be put down.

Another way miracles are incorporated into the book is that god is always with us through the miracles he works. Anytime the Land family finds themselves in trouble or in a situation they cannot get out of after meeting Andreeson, they only have to pray and somehow they make it out of the situation together and ok. When the family is driving they realize that every few miles there is a state patrol car looking for them but somehow the police are not able to see them. Since there are so many police they are scared to stop for gas. The family knows that they should have already run the cars gas tank dry, but somehow they are able to keep driving. Once they finally find a safe place to stop for gas, it happens to be Roxannas house and they get snowed in for days. This part of the story is almost one miracle after another that God gave them when they really needed.

In the book Peace Like a River many of the miracles performed by Jeremiah are similar to miracles that occurred in the bible. In the book Jeremiah walked right off the edge of a truck bed and continued walking on nothing but air, which is similar to when Jesus walked on water. Also their vehicle never running out of gas is like in the bible when Jesus was able to feed thousands of people with only a few loaves of bread and a handful of fish from a local fisherman.

Jeremiah is very religious and tries to spread the word of God in any way he can similar to what Jesus did. Jeremiah had a very promising career as a doctor, but he suddenly gave it all up so he could have more time with his family and be able to study the bible more and preach what god says in it. This is just like how Jesus gave up his life and died so that he could spread the word of God. Jeremiah likes to leave everything up to god. This is apparent when he says, I prayed the Lord would sort (my prayers) out and answer as needed. Above all that he would hurry (93).