StephJ44

Vladek moans and screams in his sleep many times. No matter what he says we all know that he still dreams about the Holocaust even though he claims he's over it. No one can forget about a life changing event; especially one that you are able to survive. I don't know how anyone was ableto be able to live a normal life after the Holocaust.

Vladek is very weird and a confusing character. He faked a heart attack just to make sure that his would call back. I'm guessing though that this is a side affect. He's afraid that his wife left him and that he would be all along. During the Holocaust he was seperated from his girlfriend. But faking an illness seem like he's going too far just to make sure he has someone to look after him.

Vladek even talks about his numbers. During the Holocaust the Jews were taken away of their identity and given niumbers instead. The Nazi's used these numbers to show that they weren't of any siginificance and that they soon will become a number after their death. Vladek's numbers add up to be 18 wichi in hebrew means life. This was the main way that Valdek survived becuase he believed in his numbers and belives that his girlfriend/'wife was still alive.

Vladek explains to Artie how he and Aanja were getting closer and closer to being captured. In one of the scenes it shows them being interrogated by Nazi workers. During the Holocaust those who were believed to be hiding Jews would be interrogated to see if they told the truth. Many times they would be persecuted/exectued if they were innocent or guilty. What I didn't know though was that they would hang some people in the towns to show that the Nazi's meant buisness or to strike fear into the Jews hearts. Supposedly it would work because some people would be afraid to leave their houses or even to look at the people hanging in the town square.

What puzzels me is that Artie called his father a murder because he burned all of Anja's diary enteries and letters. I think he did this so he wouldn't have to deal with the fact that he lost her or that he doesn't want to bring up any painful memories. To me, Artie was way out of line when he shouted at his father. Valdek's response was weird too because he only told his son to not be a stranger and to call him.

1. It's described that God created Adam from clay and blew air into him to give him life. In PLaR, Reuben's father, Jeremy Land, blew air and life into his motionless, clay-like son at the beginning of the story.

2. Reuben takes a moment to explain how it feels to try to breathe while having an asthmatic attack. He compares it to a bellows which has a tiny air-born seed suddenly stick inside it and slowly you have to work a little harder to make it work. It becomes sponge-bound and the air couldn't blow out the candle on a baby cake. The air gets close and sticky and you know that if you fall asleep the bellows will stop working completely.

(I agreed with this statement because I have asthma. I've been blessed to never have an asthma attack but I know how hard it is to controll your breathing when it startes to get raggedy.)

The protagonist in any story is a person who was gown through chnage and a period of growth. That and s/he overcome an opposing force. In Peace Like a River, the protagonist is Reuben Land who believes he was revived at birth to be the witness to his father's miracles. He is also the narrator of the story, telling it from an adult perspective many years later. Since the book is in Reuben's point of view, he helps the readers understand the lessons he's gone through.

The antagonist in a story is the force that provides an obstacle for the protagonist. The antagonist is usually in the form of a person but it can be multiple people or even an inanimate object. In this story there are several antagonists. The bullies, Israel Finch and Tommy Basco, the law. The third Jape Waltzer who wants to force his view on the entire world no matter who he hurts and the last antagonist is the inner character and decision maker within each of the characters in the Land family and those they impact upon. Their decisions have far reaching consequences that affect themselves and those they meet.

There many themes present in this book. One of the main themes is miracles. Miracles are only miracles if they are witnessed. At the beginning of the book we are told that Reuben had died and his father had brought him back to life. Since Reuben was the main person in this ordeal he is techniqually a theme for miracles. Reuben later belives that God allowed his father be able to bring him back to life to live as his fathers miracle and to see the worl created form faith and love.

Another theme is one that everyone on Earth can relate to: decisions always have consequences. Another theme tells us no matter whether our decisions are good or bad, they always have consequences. This a very constant idea that follows everyone in Reuben's family. An example is when Davy chooses to lure some bullies into a trap that ultimatly kills them. This eventually leads to the death of his own father.

A third theme is God; God is ever present. God helps lead Reuben's family wen they are happy, sad, or in a lot of trouble. Rueben's family attends church every sunday and are very religious. God is always present, and example is when Reuben's family drove for hours with no gasoline and just when the car finally begins to sputter and die, they come to Roxanna Cawley; a major and important character to this story.

So far this book is very interesting. For those of you who don't know Peace Like aRiver bu Leif Enger is narrated by a boy named Reuben Land. He has a severe case of asthma. He doesn't have a mother and his only close friend is his little sister Swede who enjoys to write epic poetry. His father's name is Jaermiah and he's a school janitor. He belives strongly in his faith and God ever since hs was able to bring Reuben back to life after her "died" minutes after he was born. This book contains many elements of faith and family as Reuben struggeles to keep his family together.

Leif Enger touches on the topics of murder, family, and faith. He uses the idea of God strongly as he writes about how a little boy tries to keep his family together. This is a very good book and I'd have to say so far it's a mix between Transcendentalism and Modernism. The story is set in Miinesota where the family hunts every night for fresh meat. As for modernism, he uses a lot of colors and diction especially with the words God and faith.

"It was after we started with Gatsby toward the house that the gardener saw Wilson's body a little way off in the grass, and the holocaust was complete" (pg.170)

To me this quote marked the end of all of the deaths and revenge plots. I thought it was interesting though that he made a reference to the Holocaust in a book about revenge plots and secret affairs. The Holocost was during WWII when Hitler sent many "inferriers" aka gypsies, gays, and jews to concentration camps and gas chambers because he thought they were the main cause to all of the problems in Germany.The Great Gtasby doesn't seem like a book that should be compared to it but he's the writer so he can pretty much do what he wants.

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Jewess: It's a noun

I heard all of the Jewesses have to marry based on religion.

Dilatory: it's an adjective

Many senior eyear students work on their homework in a dilatory fashion after they learn they have been accepted into college.

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Caravansary:it's a noun

 Theirs only one caravansary i know and it's called the Executive Inn.

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"Her voice is full of money. (127)" says Gatsby

I knew men like to explain woman's attributes using metaphors. A good example of this is Shakespeares sonnet number 18. He tries to compare a woman to many different objects including a summers day. He finishes the sonnet with the idea that her beauty will fade with all of the objects he's listend but it will last in the lines of his poem. It's very weird to hear someone say that a girls voice is full of money; but this is the Great Gatsby and he seems like the type who wants to marry someone rich to get to the status he wants.

 "Then I went out of the room and down the marble steps into the rain, leaving them there together"

Gatsby and Daisy met up again after a few years. Things are now going to get interesting now that Nick knows about their affair. It has been mentioned several times that Daisy subtly knows who Gatsby is but always denies it whenever Tom is around. Since she and Tom are married this will cause more complications. To me this is a very cliched topic to a story because in many television shows, movies, and books a man and a woman have an affair or they've already met years ago and are married. But since this story adds more drama to the whole story with people being ocnnected by six degrees it makes it that more enjoyable.

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Meretricious 

The meretricious acts of woman in this generation makes woman who were born inthe fifties shake their heads at the sight of them.