Peace Like A River

In Peace Like A River, Jeremiah Land is described in great detail throughout the book. The author has written the book from his son, Reuben’s perspective, but Reuben pays careful attention to the details surrounding his dad’s character. Through Reuben, the reader is given the insight that Jeremiah represents a Christ-like figure. This realization is seen throughout the book and if a reader doubts whether this correlation is really true, they will no longer have any question about it when they read the final scene involving Jeremiah and Reuben. Reuben describes in great detail all of the miracles he has seen his dad perform throughout his life. Even though Reuben was just a baby and cannot recall the first miracle that he was a part of, he has heard the story. He had been born and had not breathed for twelve minutes. The doctors all thought that he was dead, but not Jeremiah. He said to me, “Reuben Land, in the name of the living God I am telling you to breathe.”(pg. 3) Then Reuben starts to breathe. While Jesus was on earth he preformed many miracles and he would always perform them in the name of God, just like Jeremiah is performing a miracle in the name of God. God gave Jesus the ability to perform miracles here on earth and now God is giving Jeremiah the ability to perform a miracle in his name.

As the novel begins, an attack has just taken place on a girl named Dolly, who is Davy’s girlfriend. Jeremiah shows up during the attack and Dolly says that his face was light up, even though the rest of the room was in complete darkness. Just like Jesus shines in even the darkest places for all of the world to see, Jeremiah is shinning in the light of God because of the great work that he is doing for the kingdom of God. One night Reuben decides he needs to go outside and use the bathroom and when he does he comes upon his dad praying and walking with his eyes closed. Reuben watches for awhile and is amazed when his dad keeps on walking right off of the pick-up truck. His dad seems to float on air above the ground. This miracle could easily correlate with the miracle of Jesus and Peter walking on water. In order for Peter to stay above the water, he had to have faith. Jeremiah defiantly has faith in God while praying and that is the reason why he continues not to fall, even though he is walking on air. Swede, who is Jeremiah’s daughter has a birthday and for her birthday, her brother gives her a saddle that he has restored back to perfect, except for one tear. Later on in the story Jeremiah trips over the saddle and then Reuben suddenly notices that the saddle no longer has a tear on it. Jeremiah has just preformed another miracle.

Later on in the story when Davy is arrested and thrown in prison for murder, the family is devastated. When Davy escapes prison and goes on the run, the family decides to leave their house and travel around in their car with their Airstream trailer attached, trying to find Davy. While they are driving several miracles occur. Jeremiah prays, asking God not to let them run out of gas. He also asks Swede to pray and ask God the same thing. Amazingly the car never runs out of gas, until they make it where they end up staying. This miracle correlates with the feeding of the five thousand. Even though there should not have been enough food to feed everyone, there was. Likewise, there should not have been enough gas to last that long, but there was. Also while they are traveling, they pass by the police who are obviously looking for them. Even though they drive right by them, none of them seem like they have even seen the family. Their presence was so obvious as Reuben describes when he says, “we tiptoed through that town like a fat boy through a wolf pack.” (pg. 167) This shows that God’s grace was with them and he was protecting them, just like he protected his son, Jesus.

The family meets a woman named Roxanna and she lets them stay at her house. This woman herself is a miracle for these kids because after the death of their father, she takes care of them, raises them, and is always there for them. At the end of the story Jeremiah and Reuben are both shot. Jeremiahs wound is not too bad and he should have recovered from it, but Reuben’s wound is serious and deadly and should have killed him. Even though Reuben should have been the one that died, he was not. Instead Reuben’s dad Jeremiah dies. Jeremiah talks about how he would take Reuben’s place if he could all throughout the book. He would rather suffer, than watch his son suffer. In the end Jeremiah takes the place of his son and dies, so that his son can live. Jesus died for the sins of everyman because he loved us enough to take our place. Jeremiah died in the place of Reuben because he loved him enough to take his place. Jeremiah represents a Christ-like figure in this story and the sacrifice he makes for his son out of love reminds people of the sacrifice that God made for his people out of love.

Refrences:

Enger, Leif. Peace Like A River. New York, 2001.

Light in a Dark World

            In The Road, the word light is used many times throughout the story. The word light is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as the natural agent that stimulates sight and makes things visible(Oxford Dictionary). After the catastrophe in the story almost everything that had once existed is destroyed, including light. The man and his son are continuously surrounded by darkness. They are not only surrounded by a literal darkness, but they are also surrounded by the darkness of some of the people living in the world. Light is necessary to build a fire, but it can also be seen as detrimental because if someone sees their fire, it will put their lives in danger. Light could also be referring to the colorful dreams that the father seems to encounter numerous times. As a reader, I saw the vivid dreams as full of color and life, but later on the father explains to the son that the dreams mean the exact opposite. The father says that when someone starts to have “nice” colorful dreams, they are starting to give up on life. This is a foreshadowing to the fact that the father is starting to give up on life evident by his colorful dreams. Light can be seen as a source of life, like a fire. It can also be seen as a source of evil, like the men who had dark hearts after the catastrophe occurred. Darkness has entered the world whether any one likes it or not and now it is up to the father’s son to carry the light for all mankind. That is why the father is so determined to stay alive. He knows that his son needs him and he wants to be able to protect and provide for his son.

            Light has many different meanings in this text. The most important form of light is one that cannot be seen by the human eye. The son is carrying the light, which is the hope, for the entire world. The light has been extinguished all over the world and it is now up to him to return it. The light helps the father and son survive on their journey and is therefore seen as their source of life. Ironically, the light also opens up their eyes to all of the darkness around them. They use a lighter to check what is in the basement and when they do, they are amazed to see many people living down there in the dark awaiting a cruel and nasty death. The son wants to help them, which again shows the light in him, but the father says no. This shows that the father has seen the light and darkness in the world and knows that if they try and save these people, they might lose their lives as well. If the reader does not pick up on these symbols of light, they might miss the meaning of the whole book. The author makes it very clear that the son is carrying the light. He also uses the light in many different contexts all throughout the book. The word light is a strong word that can have different meanings, but in this text the main reason light is used, is to show that the son is the hope for the now dying world.

References:

Oxford Dictionaries. 4 April 2011.

<http://oxforddictionaries.com/search?q=light&view=uk>

Dear Diary,

How do you convince someone that life is worth living when you no longer value your own life? How do you make someone with very little worldly experience understand the reasoning behind your decisions? These are the questions that haunt me every time my eyes start to get heavy and I start to drift off into my own world. In this world there is no fighting, everything is perfect and my son and I are happy. Soon reality returns and I am left with only memories of what used to be. How am I supposed to tell my son not to talk of dying when I even feel like dying? Is it fair that I expect so much of him? I swear I would give me life without even a blink if it meant that he would live. I am destined for one purpose and that is to protect my son and ensure that he keeps on living. I cannot explain the way he makes me feel. It is a love like I have never experienced before. Do not get me wrong, I loved my wife very much, but with him it is different. I know that he will never leave me and I know that this may sound a little immature, but I consider us to be best friends. We help each other through the rough times and I think love is the only thing that keeps us alive sometimes. I wish I could change his future. I wish that I knew what is going to happen to us. A boy should never have to see what he has already seen at such a young age. He does not like to talk about his bad experiences along this journey, but I know that they have deeply affected him. I can see it all over his face. I wish I could change that, but I cannot. All I can do is defend him until the day I die and teach him enough knowledge to help him survive. I am scared, but I will never let him see it on my face. I am his warrior, protector, and provider and I will defend him until the day I die. That is what true love is.

Sacrifice

When Jesus died on the cross, He gave us his all.

Now it is up to us whether or not to follow his call.

He took our place in the form of a human face.

He bore the pain, for a future gain.

How could someone so pure want to be our cure?

He died for us because he knew it was a must.

Sacrifice is what it took.

Anyone could tell that from his face’s look.

He endured the suffering, so that new life he could bring.

His name is Jesus Christ and he is our sacrifice.

           

            In Peace Like A River, Reuben is supposed to die when he gets shot, but he doesn’t. Instead his dad dies from a gunshot wound that hardly should have affected him at all. Reuben’s dad represents Jesus in this story. He has been a figure that has been pretty Godly throughout the entire story. He mentions numerous times that he would willingly take the place of Reuben if he could. He did not like seeing Reuben suffer through the pain of having asthma. Reuben’s dad takes Reuben’s place, so that Reuben does not have to die. This scene paints a great picture of the sacrifice that God made for us. God loved us just like Reuben’s dad loved Reuben. Jesus died for our sins, not his just like Reuben’s dad died for Reuben’s gunshot wound not his. I think that the author wants the reader to be able to make the connection between the two stories and to more clearly understand what it takes to love someone so much that you are willing to give up your own life in order for them to live. People can say that they are willing to make a sacrifice like this, but until they are placed in a situation that requires them to make a decision, I do not think they can ever really know for sure what they would do. Jesus was probably scared and did not probably want to endure the painful death of dying by being hung on a cross, but he chose to do die because he loved us so much and he knew that his death was the only thing that could save everyone on earth. He died for other people’s sins because he loves them. This takes sacrifice.

Protecting Loved Ones

Is it ever okay to break the law? This is an intriguing question for me. In Peace Like A River, the Lands are Christians, and therefore I would assume they would believe it is wrong to break the law. When Davy gets taken to jail for committing murder, his family still supports him. They are even happy when he escapes from jail after his trial. People come and go wanting the Lands to tell them where Davy is, but the Lands never do. When Mr. Andreeson, a fed, comes to visit, he is very short with the family and tells them that if they do not want Davy to get hurt, they should let him know where he is. Jeremiah says he does not know and even if he did he would not tell.  Now Davy’s family could have given any information they had about Davy to the fed as they found it out, but they didn’t. This made me think about whether or not it is ever okay to break the law. I think that a lot of people living in the world right now see breaking laws as bad only if they get caught. As a Christian though, I know that God is always watching us. Even if we do not get caught by a human, God sees our sin and that should be enough to keep us from breaking the law if we really love God.

Jeremiah is a great example of someone who walks by faith, knowing that God will provide for his family.  He never really lies about Davy’s whereabouts, but he does not give the fed all of the information he has about where Davy is. I found this a little weird because up until now, Jeremiah did not really have any flaws in my eyes. I can understand though why he did what he did. I know that I love my family very much and want to protect them from anything or anyone who would harm them. Jeremiah feels the same way about Davy.  I understand why he would not tell anymore than he had to. He wanted to make sure that Davy was okay and he wanted to find him before the fed did, so that the Lands could be a family again. I do not condon breaking the law, but I do see why Jeremiah would want to keep Davys whereabouts a secret for now and for that reason I do not think less of him as a person.

Miracles

This week in class we were assigned to read the first eighty pages of the book “Peace Like A River.”  We read the first chapter together as a class and the word miracle really stuck out to me as we were reading. The word miracle is used throughout the book and really provides insight into these characters lives. Reuben Land describes miracle as a word that “for too long has been used to characterize things or events that, though pleasant, are entirely normal.” This really made me think about what I define as a miracle. I think too often people think that it is God’s job to provide miracles. This is why some people get angry when God does not save a person’s life or does not stop something bad from happening. I think that miracles are God’s way of blessing people. God does not have to perform miracles, but he chooses to because he loves his people.

The book talks about the miracle of the never ending soup. This closely parallels the story of Jesus and the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus took a small amount of food and provided food for everyone there. God is defiantly capable of performing miracles, but it is not up to us to decide when a miracle needs to take place. We have to trust God and know that he has our best interests at heart and that he has a plan for our lives. I feel like I have never really seen a true miracle in my life, even though I know I have. I am a miracle myself. God created my uniquely and no one else is like me. This book really grasps the reader’s attention by starting with a miracle at the very beginning of the book.

Throughout the book there are many references to miracles or miracles witnessed. Some of these miracles are pretty amazing and sometimes hard to picture or believe without seeing. That is why God takes faith, we cannot always see what is going on, so we have to believe. God will always be there for everyone. All we have to do is give our life to him.

Disappointment

The poem “God, A Poem,” is a dialogue between a human and God. The ironic part of the poem is the fact that God keeps on talking about the fact that he is not real, even though he is the speaker. I believe that this poem is describing the doubts that most people feel, but never really express out loud. God has been a disappointment for this person; he is “the limpest of shakes from a hand which you’d thought would be firm as a rock.” At the same time God is saying that the person has been a disappointment to him as well. The person and God seem to share the same opinion of each other. They both think that the other one is wrong and is stupid for believing what they believe. God tells the person that he should have guessed that he does not exist. This poem shows the expectations that people might have when it comes to how they view God. I think that it is sometimes hard for people to believe in someone that they cannot physically see with their own eyes. Believing in God takes faith and some people struggle with faith. If people start to doubt about God’s existence who knows what will happen to them. This poem really made me think. I am a Christian and I believe in God. I found this poem to be pretty trouble. It was a well written poem, but it is untrue. In the poem God denies his own existence, but he does not deny all the things that he has done. He talks about how he did not exist at Creation or the flood, but if this is true, then how did he know about these events. He must have been there. God is real and all of the things he has done are real. I do not think that people should ever underestimate God and his power because he exists and he is the only one that can ever save anyone. We need to rely on God. God is our only hope in life.

Lanyard

This week the class was assigned to read the poem Lanyard. This poem really challenged me to consider how I view my mom and made me question how much appreciation I really show her for all she has done for me. I am adopted, so in my case my mother did not actually give birth to me, but she has done everything a mother does for a child for me. She takes care of me when I am sick and help me solve a problem when I encounter one. She helps keep me out of trouble and from a young age, she has instilled valuable lifelong lessons in my life. When I think about it, what have I really done for her? I have made her little gifts growing up and I have tried to make her proud of the things I do in life, but it is hard to compare anything I have done for her to all the things she has done for me.

In the last line of the poem the author says that the “lanyard” is enough to make “us even”. The author is referring to his mom and I find this sentence highly unusual. How does a lanyard break even with everything the mom has given her son, including life? I would love to think that a present I give my mom will have some significance, but I do not ever think that I can make up for everything she has done for me in my life. My mother is truly irreplaceable. The poem talks about how mothers “give life”, “teach”, and care for their children. I can say in my case, that this is not always an easy job. I think that my mother and all mothers have done so much for their children and I think that nothing can ever really show what they mean to us. I think that children should thank their mothers for everything they do for them by trying to obey them and by showing them love and compassion everyday of their life. I truly believe that without my mom being my mom throughout my life, I would not be the person that I am today and will be in the future.

The Way He Looks At Me

He sits there with this look of awe on his face

And I turn away with haste

I look in the mirror

With a little bit of fear

All I see is a woman who has conformed to the world’s view

And I know others can see it too

My beautiful hair is hidden from his eyes

Sometimes the thought of it all makes me want to cry

I want to feel beautiful but how can I

When this suppression sometimes makes me want to die

How can a world be so cold?

I think they want to make all women look old

For now it is only hair

But how much more can a woman really bare?

I feel like I have no control

But that for now is my role

So I will appease

In order to avoid tease

During the day I am under their reign

But at night I take down my hair of mane

Just the sight of it makes him sing

And once again I feel like I am in a dream

The sun has gone down

I am no longer bound

I feel as free as my hair

This occasion is so rare

I am alone at last with the love of my life

It makes me remember how great it is to be his wife

He just stares

With a look that lets me know he cares

He is filled with love once more

As he closes our bedroom door

This poem focuses on the way women used to be treated. Women were supposed to look a certain way, dress a certain way, and carry themselves in a certain way. The poem talks about a woman who feels like she must follow society’s rules in life, but at night when no one is looking she becomes her beautiful self and lets down her hair. Her husband is always looking at her, but at night he gets to see her true beauty and it is truly stunning to him. This is a love poem that shows how woman used to feel and how some woman may still feel even today.

Death By Scrabble

            It is blazing hot outside and my husband is just sitting there with a look of disgust on his face. We are playing scrabble, one of my favorite games. Well I mean one of my favorite things to do lately, since my marriage has become so boring. He plays the word “begin”. I then play the word “jinxed”. He gets that look of disgust again, but this time I think it is because he is losing. He has always been a bad loser.

            He starts chewing on one of his letters. This nervous twitch of his has always bugged me, but I always try and choose my battles wisely. He then plays the word “Mihzpa”.  I play the word “sweatier” and collect my bonus points. He plays “humid”. I do not know what to play next. I am a little upset that I do not have any letters to make a good word. Finally, I play the word “fan”. I walk over to turn the air-conditioning on. Meanwhile my husband plays the word “zap”. I immediately get zapped by the air conditioner. It really hurt. My husband has a content look on his face, which makes me mad. To be honest, I think that he is happy that I got shocked.

            I play the word “ready” and then go get some tea to drink. Maybe the tea will help calm me down a little. He plays the word “cheating”. I think that he cheated while I was gone getting my cup of tea. For the first time in the game he is winning. I play the word “ignore” and then he plays the word “explodes”. At that very moment the air conditioning unit explodes. He seems to be surprised by this, but in all reality that air conditioning unit was reaching the end of its life. I play the word “sign”.

            He starts chewing on a letter again. Oh how annoyed that makes me. He plays the word “fly” as a fly starts to buzz around us. I play the word “caution”. I am trying to warn him not to do something that he will regret. He plays the word “quake” and sits back like he is waiting for something to happen. I play the word “death”. Suddenly one of the scrabble letters gets stuck in my husband’s throat and he starts to chock. I sit there watching the whole thing, but I never try to help him. The whole game I could see his intentions building up and I tried to warn him, but he was to consumed with his own self to realize what was really going on. Man did I hate my husband.

Harrison Bergeron

            In the story Harrison Bergeron the people are all equal to one another in every possible way. If a person has traits that may make them seem better off than others in the world’s eyes, they are required by law to wear handicaps. I found this part of the text to be the most challenging for me. As Christians, we know that God created everyone in his image and that everyone has a specific purpose. No one was created on accident. While reading this story I was very upset about the fact that these people’s lives were completely controlled, to the point that a couple could not even remember that their son had just died because of the handicaps that had been placed in their lives. This is the sad reality of what it would be like if the world was run by a single ruler or a group of rulers who had complete control over everyone on earth. This is a scary thought for me and this story made me realize that we as people need to make sure that nothing like this ever happens by not letting a situation get to this extreme.

            This story really challenges the way SEU’s culture thinks. At SEU students gifts and special abilities are encouraged to be used. God is the one who gives people talent and he says in the Bible that he wants us to use our talents to glorify him. In the story Harrison Bergeron, the people are not using their talents because they have been hidden by all if the handicaps that outweigh their talents. I think that Christians would not like reading this text because of the great difference between the way God instructs us to live our lives and the way these people are made to live their lives. I know that what was happening to these people was wrong and as I read the text I could not help but feel some anger and resentment for the way these people were being treated. When the son of the couple died and the mother could not even remember what she was crying about is the point at which how they were really living hit me. I found this part of the text to be very sad. I saw firsthand a glimpse into these people’s world and I did not like what I saw.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

I was born an unusual baby.

With a name like Methuselah, I would have sounded crazy.

I became known as Benjamin Button.

But compared to my life yours ain't nothing.

I was about seventy years old when I first saw the light of day,

Which was kind of strange since in a hospital bed I lay.

I tried to fit in,

But no matter what I could not win.

I attended kindergarten at school,

But I would fall asleep, which according to my teacher was not cool.

At age fifty I entered Yale College.

But compared to the rest of the students, I had way more knowledge.

Those students laughed at me,

But they will someday regret that, you’ll see.

At age twenty, I went to work for my father.

He no longer saw me as such a bother.

The day I meet my wife,

It was love at first sight.

She was as beautiful as sin.

And received stares from all types of men.

She loved my age,

Even though my hair was already beige.

Our marriage was fate

And my family business turned out great.

We had a son,

But soon afterwards life started to seem like a bum.

I went to war,

But when I returned home my wife was still an even more bore.

At age twenty I went to Harvard

And won the football game as a starter.

I became shorter and skinner and my brain was not filled with as much knowledge.

The next year I decided I needed to leave college.

After my life left and went to Italy, I went to leave with my son,

Who was still upset about the fact that my supposed charade was not done.

I continued to grow younger over the years,

And so increased my fears.

This that had seemed pointless in the past now made sense

And I started to get very tense.

My mind started to fade.

My life was no longer made.

I was stuck in a bind,

Until one day when everything finally faded from my mind.

And that is the story of me and my wife

And how I lost the love of my life.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Hills Like White Elephants Annotation

In the short story “Hills Like White Elephants”, the author repeatedly has Jig mention the phrase “white elephants.” This phrase serves a very important purpose throughout the story. White elephants are very sacred and pure just like a newborn baby is treasured and pure (Wikipedia). The author does not just refer to the mountains as elephants, but instead as white elephants. The author uses the color white because white represents purity. When a baby is born they are naive and pure in heart. Jig keeps reflecting on the hills like white elephants because she is contemplating the decision that lies before her regarding her unborn baby’s life.

A white elephant is defined as a prized possession, which has no dollar value in the owner’s eyes (Wikipedia). A white elephant can also be broken down into two words. White represents purity and an elephant is majestic and mighty. Jig probably says that the hills look like white elephants because she is alluding to the fact that her unborn baby is pure and breathe taking. She is in awe of the life inside of her and she displays that in the way she expresses her feelings throughout the story. Even though Jig is very descriptive when describing the hills, the man in the story never picks up on the real meaning that Jig is trying to convey through the use of metaphors. A white elephant is the denotation for a certain breed of elephants (Dictionary.com).

The landscape is a symbol of the choices that lie ahead in Jig’s life. There is a railway that runs parallel and divides the landscape into two parts. The railway symbolizes a turning point in the couple’s life. They have to choose to go one way or the other and whichever way they choose to go will define the rest of their lives. One side has fields, a river, and mountains. This side symbolizes growth and is a metaphor for the unborn baby inside of Jig (Gardner). The other side is barren and hot. This side symbolizes infertility and is a metaphor for how Jig views her life is she was to get an abortion (Gardner).

The whole story is full of symbolic meaning all related to the decision the couple faces of whether or not Jig should get an abortion. The man seems in favor of the option of abortion for his own selfish reasons, but Jig seems to really be struggling with the decision. The man’s words and actions do not correlate. The man tells Jig that she wants what is best for the woman and wants her to do what she wants, but the next line makes his words seem very ironic. He then orders her another beer as she requests. When a woman is pregnant, drinking alcohol can be harmful to the unborn baby, therefore either the man was naive about this fact because of the time period or he just did not care because he did not really have Jig’s best interests at heart.

I think that in order for the reader to fully appreciate the story, they have to understand that the story is about a woman and a man dealing with the decision of having an abortion or deciding to have the child. The author never actually tells the reader that the story is about abortion, but he alludes to this fact with his clever use of metaphors and symbolism. The story ends with the couple preparing to board the train. The author never reveals the outcome of the situation. Instead he leaves the outcome of the story up to the reader’s own imagination and intuition based on their observations of the characters.

References:

Gardner, Brian. “Hills Like White Elephants-Literary Analysis.” 2 Oct. 2006. gummyprint. 19 Jan. 2011. <http://www.gummyprint.com/blog/hills-like-white-elephants-literary-analysis/>

“Hills Like White Elephants.” 19 Jan. 2011. Hypertext.

<http://www.has.vcu.edu/eng/webtext/hills/hills.htm>

“White Elephant.” 14 Jan. 2011. Wikipedia. 19 Jan. 2011.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_elephant>

Dictionary.com. 19 Jan. 2011. <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/denotation>

Dictionary.com 19 Jan. 2011. <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/connotation>

My Mark On The World

When a person is approaching death, thoughts start to run through their head. They wonder what impact they have made in the world and they wonder what they will leave behind. When I think about my life, I want to know that I have made a difference in other people's lives. When I die, I want people to remember me as a strong Christian woman who knew what she believed in and who stood up for what she believed in. I want to make a difference in other people's lives. I want them to see Christ through me in the way that I conduct myself in everyday life. I do not want to die and only be remembered by my family. I want people to remember me, but not because of the mistakes I have made. I want people to remember all the good I have accomplished in life and how hard I worked to try and make life better for everyone. When people come together at my funeral someday, I want them to remember everything I did in my life and how I affected their lives. I hope that when they reflect on how I lived my life, they will be encouraged and determined to try and live their life the same way. If everyone tried to live Godly, Christian lives and help others in need, then other people would see this attitude and would probably show it to others. It would be a continuous cycle. I want my life to leave a great important mark on the world that will be remembered forever. I want people to carry on what they saw in me and what they saw me do for others, that way people will continue to be affected and feel the love of God displayed through others.