An Analysis Of Peace Like A River By Leif Enger

In the novel we recently finished reading, Peace like a river, by Leif Enger, Reuben's dreams had a significant role in his reality, and the author used his dreams to show what may happen later on or as a way to reflect on what was currently happening in his life. The dreams Reuben had were very vivid to him, and were mostly nightmares that obligated him wake up scared to fall back asleep and made breathing a struggle for him. He mainly described the way he felt after the dream had finished. When people experience bad dreams on a regular basis, it can mean that the dreams are trying to warn you from future action, or because of the things that worry you. In this case, Reuben witnessed his older brother (Davy) shoot 2 boys dead in his own house. The outcome can show that he could potentially be experiencing minor PTSD. …show more content…
Reuben wakes up frightened and describes his dream; “Walking past midnight I departed this dream: I was crossing a shallow river that smelled of dying plants, my bare feet sinking in muck, the far shore concealed by fog. Not a sound but the swirl round my shins. Then a breeze touched me. The mist corkscrewed away and I saw the shore. A dead horse lay swollen there, tail in the river.” The dream to me is an example of foreshadowing. Later in the book on page 287, Reuben sees Juval shoot a horse after it is severely injured. This symbolizes fear because Davy uses a horse to escape from jail after killing two boys and whenever a horse is mentioned it usually means something bad. The horses represent ‘searching’ or ‘mysterious’ because as soon as Davy vanishes, the people involved immediately go looking for him. On page 278, Reuben and other men ride horses, trying to find where they believe Davy is located, somewhere out