Reoccurring Miracles In Peace Like A River

The reoccurring miracles that Jeremiah performs throughout the novel Peace Like A River by Leif Enger are motifs that support the them in the novel. The miracles in the novel show that Jeremiah could solve the problems at hand including curing Reuben's breathing eventually even if it doesn't seem possible. Reuben's breathing problems were a battle he had to face throughout the book and it ties itself to the them. These miracles are shown through several chapters in the novel. The first miracle that Jeremiah did in the novel was int eh first chapter when Reuben was born. Reuben somehow survives even his lungs weren't working because Jeremiah performs a miracle by saying " 'Reuben Land int he name of the living God I'm telling you to breathe.'
" (Eneger 3) Another miracle that Jeremiah performed was when he fixed the unfix able, Swede's saddle. "I ran my hand down the slope of the horn, down the slick sitting place and up the swept cantle, and that's when I noticed the flaw the pulled-apart leather, Davy had been unable to fix, that the'd apologized for was gone...I sat on my haunches there in Swede's cool room and remembered how Dad after stumbling over the saddle had picked it up in his patient hands and carried it here and set it down. The miracles re proof that anything can happen no matter how unrealistic it seems. That is why they support the them in novel, because no matter how bad the circumstances seemed it felt like there was something greater helping them and there could be a happily ever after. This could have also been a way to show that although Reuben's breathing was a constant problem it could still be fixed or cured just like everything else and that gave them hope. It also showed that the impossible is possible because in the text Jeremiah fixes the leather although fixing pulled-apart leather should be impossible. This represents that the possibility that the problems their family may have are fixable and there could be a solution to them. In the end a miracle did happen Reuben's lungs were fixed by Jeremiah as were almost all their problems.