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Peace Like A River Courage Analysis

Decent Essays

One of the most needed human traits is courage. The book, Peace Like A River by Leif Enger, displays many types of courage throughout the book and we can learn from them...of why courage is important. Courage is an important trait to have because we learn from it, gain new things, and it’s helping others in need. The first reason of why courage is important is because it can be learned from. How courage is connected with learning is because people with courage and bravery learn from the mistakes that they took on. “‘Why, yes sir,’ I told Elvis. ‘He asked Dad a question. He said, ‘How many times you let the dog bite you, before you put him down?’ And the court did not erupt, nor the jury gasp in wonder at that revelation; only Elvis’s eyebrows …show more content…

In Peace Like A River, Reuben displays lots of courage when trying to shoot down a bird for the second time… “Blind with despair I fired again. The goose had to be out of range; yet somehow it shuddered, went graceless, and made a controlled fall to the ground, some eighty yards away.” (7). Even through Reuben wasn’t confident of shooting down a bird and had failed the first time, he didn’t give up and shot again, and got the bird he was ‘shooting’ for. This takes immense courage to face and go through, especially when it’s something a person loves to do and to learn about. Also, in another part of the book, Reuben gets his reward of helping someone else, “He pulled out two-ten dollar bills and a five and said, ‘You done a good job,’ then patted another pocket and came out with two chocolate bars.” (119). This was earned by the courage and hard work that Reuben did to earn some money and chocolate bars. By doing something good and trying hard; which takes courage; a person, in this case, Reuben, will earn more especially if they work really hard and quickly. This is shown because the man that Reuben was working for, gave extra for the extra effort he’d put

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