Analysis Of Peace Like A River By Leif Enger

Peace Like a River by Leif Enger is a bestselling fictional novel based on justice, tragedy, and love. The novel takes place in the 1960’s throughout Minnesota and North Dakota, and it is told from the perspective of Reuben Land. Davy, Reuben’s brother, gets himself, along with his family, into some trouble with the law. Because of this, the Land family travels to the Badlands and on their way, they discover God and His ways. Peace Like a River has a few major themes including, what makes a miracle, decisions and their consequences, and God.

Set in the Revolutionary War Era, this novel tells the story of the Meeker family. In the town of Redding Ridge, Connecticut, most are loyal to King George. But there are a few Patriots in the midst, and these differing views are what began to break families apart and turn former friends and neighbors into enemies. The Meekers are no different, which is what the younger son, Tim, realizes as his big brother Sam goes off to fight

Peace Like a River is a powerful novel that is able to incorporate miracles from the Bible and pull them into a more modern day context. Each character challenges the reader to connect to them in a new way. Reuben has lungs so swampy he shouldn’t be living, and yet here he is the main witness to his father’s miracles. Jeremiah is a devoted and caring father whose faith is unparalleled and whose miracles are a bit random. His other son Davy is almost his complete opposite, relying only on his hands and own hard work to create his life. Then Swede has a wild imagination and sense of wonder yet can’t see the miracles that happen right under her nose. As I read Peace Like a River I was filled with awe and wonder with the miracles Jeremiah did, yet when I was challenged by Reuben to “make of it as you will” (311) I was filled with dread as I was reminded of my own blindness that mimicked Swede’s.

In A Separate Peace, the characters battle with their identity. Similar to the many other characters that struggle to be themselves, Gene tries to be other people. Given that Gene has a difficult time with his identity, he tries to be someone he is not: Gene tries to be Finny. Finny can be described as athletic, outgoing, and a risk taker, all things that Gene does not possess. Although Gene is far from Finny’s qualities he tries to duplicate them. Gene says “I decided to put on his clothes (Knowles 29).” When Gene puts on Finny’s clothes it starts his obsession of being Finny. The obsession Gene has continues, for example Finny told Gene that he wanted to one day become an Olympic athlete until he broke his leg. In response, Gene

Consequences come from choices individuals make, such as waking up in the morning at a specific time in order to avoid traffic. However, even if the decisions are not made by the individual, they still have to suffer the consequences of those decisions made by others. Take, for instance, the choice that someone makes to drink and drive while under the influence. If that person kills someone, then his decision impacts the lives of everyone involved and not just himself. A theme in Peace Like a River, by Leif Enger, is that people must accept the consequences of their actions because it influences the direction they go in life. This theme is developed through the character of Jeremiah, the conflict between Davy and the law, and the symbolism

The Anatomy of Peace by the Arbinger Institute tells a story of a father named Lou, whose main in life is his drug-addicted son. Cory, Lou’s son, was arrested for using drugs and stealing, which lead to Lou to bringing him into a treatment program in order for them all to rehabilitate. The program, known as Camp Moriah, is lead by two men named Yusuf al-Falah and Avi Rozen, who both lost their fathers in the hands of each other’s “ethnic cousins” in war. At first, Lou was skeptical of the program but his wife, Carol, threatened to leave him if he didn't stay with the program. Initially, he was convinced that he had no responsibility for his son’s mischievous behavior that lead him to a world of crime. After agreeing to stay, he learns that

There is an overwhelming feeling of being lost. Krebs began to withdraw from society. He would sleep in late, read a book, and play pool in a dark room. The only change Krebs noticed in his town; “the young girls had grown up.” Krebs inner conflict plays out in each paragraph.

#1 conflict “I felt betrayed.I felt more alone than ever. By the end of the fourth day at military school, I had run away four times” (Moore 90).

The premise of this book The Anatomy of Peace is to help out those who may be going through some sort trial which involving not only themselves but a loved one. A lot of times when we may disagree with some other person we tend to almost dehumanize them just because of our different belief or different opinion on something. This tends to happen too often in our society now days and needs to be stopped, but the only way that we can do that is to acknowledge the fact that we are doing this in the first place.

There is a war occuring, right in this moment, right in front of you. Much like a tender

In the article “Why The World Is More Peaceful”, the author, Steven Pinker (2012), argues that, over hundreds of years, violence has declined around the world. He claims that government, commerce, and literacy have encouraged people to restrain their violent impulses, empathize with others, and use reason to solve problems. This article was first published in the journal Current History. It is a continuation of an argument Pinker made in his book The Better Angels Of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined (2011). The article is directed toward a general but educated audience. Although Pinker’s article is relevant and logical, many of the author’s arguments are not supported with adequate

In a world that is always evolving, there seems to be more and more violence and terror in the streets. Peace is rarely found in our world of cruelty and treacherous things. Some people are trying to bring peace into this world. and those people are peacemakers. And into a world that is ugly with hate, he sends us as peacemakers.

In the modern world the economic structure is believed to help lead to peace and prosperity to all nations. It is stated that though Interdependent economies, when economies become dependent upon trade from foreign nations, and Globalization, the act in which nations begin to integrate their ideas and concepts with one another, war and conflict can be mitigated. War is mitigated through the two phenomena due to the growing trade between nations that demands for nations to agree and play nicely with one another in order to continue this trade. This is additionally seen through the effects that a lack of trade causes on the nations. But conflicts do not seem to be effected in a meaningful way by the two phenomena. This is due to the broad definition of conflicts that seems to encompass too many things to be completely affected and the nature of conflict which is always possible with two separate groups. Thus the modern world’s economy with its Interdependence and Globalization is able to create peace but is unable to end conflict.

“As globalisation has helped to spread the culture of violence, it has also helped to spread the need for global peace”. The urge for peace increased so much that the strategy of winning a war at all cost switched to the strategy where preventing a war became more important. Because peace is such an essential factor in global society, adjectives are used to make the definition more detailed. Positive and negative peace were a result from these adjustments. (Umoh & Udoh, 2011)

In a world full of war, injustice, and hate is it possible to achieve peace, or even come close to achieving “real” peace? There is still peace in areas of the world and in society, on a lower level. State militaries, United Nation Peacekeepers, government policy are just a few aspects of an institution to promote peace; military soldiers may fight in wars, but can also be used to act as peacekeepers. Even with institution and law, few on an individual level have attained peace, but on a global level there is a lack of extensive peace. First, peace must be defined to understand what the goal truly is. Merriam-Webster defines peace as a state of tranquility or quiet. Peace is considered to be, by Galtung, as three different goals: stability, lack of “collective violence”, and societal cooperation. As a collective world society, there are different forms of peace that can be achieved, but the idea of “real” peace is an unachievable, fictional goal that allows for humans to strive for a positive result, in hopes of bettering society.