59 pages • 1 hour read
Leif EngerPeace Like a River
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2001A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 5-9Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 5 Summary: “Peeking at Eternity”
Through backstory, the narrative describes a miraculous occurrence that happened to Jeremiah before Reuben and Swede were born, which contributed to his wife eventually leaving the family. He’d been in college after they got married, ambitious and set on medical school. He was helping fix the roof of the campus athletic hall when a tornado hit, destroying the building but carrying Jeremiah unharmed inside the whirlwind for several miles. After that, his ambitions changed. He dropped out of school and began working as a plumber’s assistant. Reuben imagines his mom must have felt betrayed by this change in fortune. She stayed long enough to give birth to Reuben and Swede, but left shortly after. She married a doctor in Chicago and severed all ties with her former family.
In the present, Davy is arrested and jailed in the town of Montrose. Reporters and lawyers drop by the house, but those who’d called themselves friends stay away. Reuben does his best to give them the benefit of the doubt for their lack of support. Three men are the exception: Dr. Nokes, their preacher, James Reach, and the dime store owner and fellow church member, Mr. Layton. Newspaper accounts portray Davy sympathetically, as a hero who saved his family. The Lands learn he will be represented by state-appointed defense attorney Thomas DeCuellar and charged with two counts of manslaughter. After meeting with Davy, Mr. DeCuellar says he’s never represented anyone so unconcerned with his own defense. Davy insists he wasn’t forced to shoot Finch and Basca, and what little remorse he feels, he’s unwilling to demonstrate for his own gain.
Back at home, Swede works feverishly on her epic poem for days, then comes to Reuben and says it’s not working and that she’s unable to kill Valdez. She explains she can write his death, but that doesn’t make it real. Reuben is unable to help or even understand.
Chapter 6 Summary: “When Sorrows Like Sea Billows Roll”
Ten days before Davy’s trial, an article in the Minneapolis Star portrays Basca as a sympathetic victim, vilifying Davy. He starts getting hate mail instead of fan letters as public opinion turns against him. Mr. DeCuellar tells the family what to expect at the trial, and advises Jeremiah not to answer any questions from the press and to maintain a happy composure at work.
Jeremiah’s boss, Superintendent Holgren, seems to have it in for Jeremiah. One day Holgren puts on a festive turkey hat while talking to the kids in the cafeteria, not realizing someone’s written “shoot me!” on it. Reuben can’t resist laughing, and as Holgren lurches toward the offending child he upends a table of milk bottles, making him look and feel like a fool. He takes his anger out on Jeremiah, who’s come in to clean up the mess. Holgren says he’s received reports of Jeremiah being drunk on the job and fires him in front of everyone. Having to witness this in front of all his classmates is torturous for Reuben. Before walking away, Jeremiah touches Holgren’s face, and immediately Holgren’s festering, boil-covered skin is healed. Reuben is pained by the unfairness of this divine blessing going to such a terrible man, while he has to fight just to breathe.
Chapter 7 Summary: “Late in the Night When the Fires Are Out”
Davy’s trial begins with an opening statement by the prosecution, which paints him as a cold-blooded killer, and a new fact is revealed to Reuben. Davy went to the Finches’ home earlier the night of the shooting, around 9 pm, and smashed all the windows of Israel Finch’s car. Reuben realizes that’s why Davy took his Winchester to bed; he expected Finch and Basca to come, almost issuing them an invitation. He realizes, too, that Davy has no chance of acquittal. Dolly’s testimony might be expected to help Davy’s defense by correcting the view of Finch and Basca as sympathetic victims. Instead, it’s used by the prosecution to establish the feud between Davy and the boys he shot, making his actions seem like premeditated crimes rather than self-defense.
That night, Swede tells Reuben that Davy will lose his case and they should break him out of jail. She suggests tricking the guard and grabbing his gun. Reuben tells her to grow up. He changes his mind, however, after his own testimony, which was required since he’d been an eyewitness to the shootings. The prosecutor leads Reuben to reveal something Davy said after Finch and Basca abducted Swede: “How many times do you let a dog bite you before you put it down?” (91). This statement further supports the idea of his actions being premeditated murder rather than merely protecting his family from a home invasion. The savvy prosecutor elicits more damning details from Reuben, such as Davy saying he meant to shoot Finch and Basca, and being angry with his father for not doling out a more severe punishment to them after the locker room incident.
Reuben and Swede’s plans to sneak out after bedtime to break Davy out of jail are hindered by the adults having their coffee in a different room than usual. While waiting for a chance to sneak past, they fall asleep. They’re woken in the morning by their father telling them the sheriff had just come by because Davy escaped jail and fled.
Chapter 8 Summary: “A Boy on a Horse”
Reuben learns Davy escaped by telling the deputy on guard his toilet wouldn’t flush. When the deputy came in his cell to try to fix it, Davy knocked him out and took his keys and gun. A posse of 12 men forms to look for Davy. Once news of his escape spreads on the radio, fifty more armed men show up at the courthouse to join the manhunt. Reuben can’t understand why his father isn’t thrilled that Davy has gained his freedom but is instead full of fear and misgivings. Authorities assume Davy is on foot since no car thefts have been reported, and he can’t have gotten far.
Three days elapse and Davy still hasn’t been found. The posse disbands and the Lands, who have been staying at the DeCuellars’ house, head home. A farmer reports one of his horses was stolen two miles from town, sometime in the last week, and two days later it finds its way home, implying that Davy must have fled on horseback.
Swede writes new verses for her Sunny Sundown epic, in which bandits Rennie and Burt Reddick try to harm Sunny’s wife when they think he’s out of town. He catches and kills them, and now is supposed to be hanged for it. Reuben asks her what happened with the Valdez plot line. With tears in her eyes, Swede admits that Sunny couldn’t beat him. She explains, though, that all westerns are love stories. As Sundown’s story goes on, Sunny is rescued from the noose by a woman rider. When he kisses her in thanks, Reuben is troubled by it not being Sunny’s wife.
Reuben and Swede don’t go back to school after the trial. Jeremiah doesn’t have the heart or the will to force the issue. He takes no joy in life anymore and seems to feel he’s lost his son forever.
Chapter 9 Summary: “By the Grace of Lurvy”
As Christmas approaches, Reuben’s one wish is for a toy model of the movie character Spartacus. Swede’s wish is for a trip west to look for Davy. Neither expects much with their father out of work.
Dr. Nokes visits and says what Jeremiah thought was a cold is actually pneumonia. He worries about Reuben catching it with his asthmatic lungs. To get Reuben out of the house, Dr. Nokes finds him a job, presenting it as an opportunity to earn Christmas money. A neighbor agrees to pay Reuben to tear down an old corncrib behind his house.
Jeremiah’s pneumonia gets worse and he asks Reuben how he’d feel about moving, saying Dr. Nokes told him a drier climate like New Mexico might be better for his health. Reuben gets excited about the idea, imagining how well he might be able to breathe. Swede, on the other hand, says Davy might come back and find them gone, and it’d be like giving up hope for him. When Reuben reminds her it’s out west, though, she warms to the idea.
Reuben earns twenty-five dollars for tearing down the corncrib. He dreams about how to spend it for several days and plans to get a canoe. When Jeremiah finally gets out of bed, Reuben is horrified by his skeletal appearance. Swede convinces Reuben their need for groceries is more urgent than buying himself a gift with his $25. Reuben sacrifices the canoe to buy food for the family, including a sumptuous Christmas dinner. A federal investigator named Martin Andreeson comes to the house. He urges Jeremiah to do the right thing if Davy tries to contact the family, but Jeremiah sends Andreeson away and says they won’t be speaking to each other again.
The DeCuellars join the Lands for Christmas dinner, bringing gifts of a telescope for Reuben and cowboy boots and lariat for Swede. For Jeremiah, they bring news that Tim Lurvy, the traveling salesman, died recently and left his new Airstream trailer to Jeremiah in his will. Jeremiah reveals he’d prayed just that morning for God to either bring Davy back or give them a way to get to Davy.
Chapters 5-9 Analysis
Backstory describing Jeremiah being carried by a tornado develops his character. His ambition to be a doctor, and likely his entire view of the world and his future, changed with this miraculous experience. Without access to Jeremiah’s thoughts and memories, the reader can only surmise exactly what he experienced and why it changed him so profoundly. Subtext suggests he felt called by God to a different path. This scene in the plot also explains the absence of his wife from the children’s lives.
Like many plot developments, Jeremiah’s job loss seems like a great misfortune, but is seen to work out for the best by moving the family in the direction of God’s plan for them. Jeremiah’s pneumonia and the gift of the Airstream trailer serve a similar purpose, as well as illustrating the eventual reward for treating others, especially the less fortunate, with kindness.
Enger employs irony in preventing Reuben and Swede from acting on their plans to free Davy by having the adults inexplicably change their evening routine. Another irony is Davy’s successful escape, without Reuben or Swede’s involvement, the same night. These ironic plot twists are presented as God’s active hand in the lives of the faithful. Reuben’s discovery that Davy lured Finch and Basca to their deaths is another important plot twist. It prompts Reuben to question his blind trust in his brother, thus developing the thematic idea of family loyalty.
Davy’s portrayal in these chapters simultaneously emphasizes and obscures his motivation. His lack of concern for his defense may be an effort to characterize him as a loner who doesn’t care how others view him, or it might indicate he’s already planning to escape and is confident he’ll succeed. Either way, it reflects the unpredictable nature of human emotion and behavior.
Through his reflections about his testimony, Reuben is characterized as someone with moral integrity. Asking himself why he shared Davy’s comment about putting down a dog, he says, “Well, I suppose I had to, once I’d gone and remembered it; Elvis had asked me the question, and I was tied to honesty by oath” (91). Even at his young age, he feels bound by truth and accountability.
Swede’s eagerness to break Davy out of jail demonstrates her courage, as well as her fascination with outlaws and their adventurous misdeeds. It also shows she has not yet begun to question her loyalty to Davy, as Reuben has. Swede’s explanation that O’Rourke’s westerns are better than Zane Grey’s demonstrates her burgeoning feminism. Of O’Rourke’s westerns, she says, “It’s his women. They don’t talk all the time, and when they ride, they ride like men” (105). Swede shows her support for gender equality with as much zeal as she does everything else. Her precocious nature and fiery spirit complement Reuben’s more introspective and timid disposition.
With the loss of Finch and Basca as antagonists, Andreeson is introduced in these chapters and serves as a foil to Davy’s character. His ideals are opposed to Davy’s, yet he’s not the story’s main adversary. Because of Reuben’s loyalty to Davy, Reuben also has an adversarial relationship to Andreeson.
There is a critique of the justice system in this section, as a letter to Davy calls his arrest “a sorrowful commentary on the way we treat those who dare to do what is right” (60), and Sunny Sundown, in Swede’s poem, is hanged for defending his wife. Additional facts that come to light about Davy’s actions add complexity to the issue, reflecting that things in life are rarely so black and white as they first seem. A shift in sympathy from Davy to Basca in news reports and letters prompts a thematic consideration of the concept of justice, portraying it as flawed when governed by society and public opinion.
Symbolism continues to define Enger’s narrative style in these chapters. In Swede’s Sunny Sundown epic, the villain Valdez takes on a darker persona, symbolizing a loss of innocence triggered by her abduction at the hands of Finch and Basca. Reuben’s changed outlook is also reflected when he says:
Till then I’d been picturing Valdez as one of those banditos in Zorro: sitting a scrawny horse, sneaky grin and eyebrows, the kind of villain who’d dig for earwax to groom his mustache. […] Now, overnight, Valdez had come unbound. He’d grown personally. He was a monster” (67-68).
Observing evil in real life has changed Reuben’s ideas about what makes a villain.
Along with her innocence, Swede’s trauma takes away her sense of control. This manifests in her writing when she’s unable to kill off Valdez. Reuben asks what she means when she says she can’t kill him. Swede responds, “It doesn’t work. I’ve been trying and it doesn’t work. What can I do?” (68). She feels powerless against her symbol of evil, just as she was powerless against Finch and Basca. Valdez continues to symbolize evil as Reuben develops “an unreasoning fear that Valdez was no invention. That he was real and coming toward us on solid earth” (101). His recognition of evil in the world shapes his arc and the book’s coming-of-age genre classification.
Literary allusions continue to define Enger’s style in this section. Such references include C. S. Lewis, Graham Greene, Charles Dickens, Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Lamplighter, and Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women.
The miracle motif is carried on with Jeremiah healing Superintendent Holgren’s face. This event contributes to the thematic exploration of justice, though in a different sense than Davy’s arrest and trial. It also incorporates Christian ideas about grace, or undeserved gifts, and Reuben reflects on the difficulty of accepting that a healing miracle is given to an unkind man when others, like himself, continue to suffer.
The story of Reuben’s hard-earned $25, which he spends on groceries for the family rather than the canoe he’s dreamed of, embodies the theme of Defining Family, Loyalty, and Sacrifice in a Complex World. This theme is also developed by the story of outlaw Cole Younger, who refuses to rat out his friend, even though doing so would free him.
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