Peace Like a River

by

Leif Enger

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Peace Like a River makes teaching easy.
Swede is a precocious and verbose nine-year old obsessed with the Wild West. As Reuben's younger sister and best friend, she habitually critiques Reuben's poorly thought out questions. She's an avid writer and throughout the novel she writes an epic poem about the cowboy hero Sunny Sundown, who is a thinly-veiled surrogate for Davy. As her family travels West in search of Davy, whom Swede idolizes above everyone else, Swede fictionalizes the journey, rendering all events as she wants them to happen, rather than as they actually happen. This shows Swede’s immature inability to confront reality, even as she sometimes shoulders more of the family’s day-to-day responsibility (such as cooking) than Reuben does.

Swede Land Quotes in Peace Like a River

The Peace Like a River quotes below are all either spoken by Swede Land or refer to Swede Land. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Youth vs. Adulthood Theme Icon
).
His Separate Shadow Quotes

"Rube, you're almost like Davy now, aren't you. I mean, you shot a goose this morning."

Related Characters: Swede Land (speaker), Reuben Land, Davy Land
Page Number: 15
Explanation and Analysis:
Your Toughened Heart Quotes

When did it come to Davy Land that exile is a country of shifting borders, hard to quit yet hard to endure, no matter your wide shoulders, no matter your toughened heart?

Related Characters: Reuben Land (speaker), Swede Land, Davy Land
Page Number: 50
Explanation and Analysis:
Peeking at Eternity Quotes

Well, we all hold history differently inside us. For Swede such episodes retold themselves into a seamless and momentous narrative; she had a Homeric grasp on the significance of events, and still does; one of her recent letters asks, Is it hubris to believe we all live epics? (Perhaps it is, but I suspect she's not actually counting on me for an answer.)

Related Characters: Reuben Land (speaker), Jeremiah Land (Dad), Swede Land
Page Number: 55
Explanation and Analysis:

But the whole thing bothered Davy, and with Dad out of earshot he'd say so. You couldn't get blown around in a tornado, he said, and not get banged up. It didn't make sense. It wasn't right.
Swede challenged him. "Are you calling Dad a liar?"
"Of course not. I know it happened. It just shouldn't have. Don't you see that?"

Related Characters: Reuben Land (speaker), Swede Land (speaker), Davy Land (speaker), Jeremiah Land (Dad)
Page Number: 56
Explanation and Analysis:

"Just because I write it doesn't mean it really happened."

Related Characters: Swede Land (speaker), Reuben Land
Related Symbols: Sunny Sundown, Valdez
Page Number: 69
Explanation and Analysis:
When Sorrows Like Sea Billows Roll Quotes

My sister's resentments notwithstanding, Margery's pitiful recital contained a certain truth that I, at least, eventually had to face. Tommy Basca was an idiot, but he wasn't purebred evil. You could see looking at him that he might be somebody's Bubby.

Related Characters: Reuben Land (speaker), Swede Land, Tommy Basca
Page Number: 71
Explanation and Analysis:
Late in the Night When the Fires Are Out Quotes

"We'll wait till they're asleep—take some of Mrs. DeCuellar's cookies—offer 'em to the guard, tell him we've got to see Davy—when he turns to me you grab his gun," and so on. It was one of those rare moments when I actually felt older than Swede. Seizing it, I told her to grow up.

Related Characters: Reuben Land (speaker), Swede Land (speaker), Davy Land, Mrs. DeCuellar
Page Number: 87
Explanation and Analysis:
A Boy on a Horse Quotes

They were the harshest words I'd ever heard him speak. I watched him sipping his coffee, his face foreign with misgiving. How I wanted to understand him! But I was eleven, and my brother had escaped from the pit where my vanity had placed him (a vain notion itself, Swede has since pointed out, yet it was certainty to me). How could my father not be joyous over such a thing? Who in this world could ask for more?

Related Characters: Reuben Land (speaker), Jeremiah Land (Dad), Swede Land, Davy Land
Page Number: 95
Explanation and Analysis:

"She wasn't his wife!" Swede flared. Past tense, you notice—history, even the fictive kind, being beyond our influence.

Related Characters: Reuben Land (speaker), Swede Land (speaker)
Related Symbols: Sunny Sundown
Page Number: 106
Explanation and Analysis:
At War with This Whole World Quotes

I feared the outcome of honest speech—that it might reach forward in time and arrange events to come. If I told Swede I wanted Davy back, even at the cost of his freedom, might that not happen? And if I said what I sensed was the noble thing... might that not bring despair on this whole crusade of ours?

Related Characters: Reuben Land (speaker), Swede Land, Davy Land
Related Symbols: Valdez
Page Number: 152
Explanation and Analysis:

Could a person believe so strongly one way, yet take the opposite route? I wanted to ask Swede, but again, if I posed it aloud, it might become true, and then we were in for all sorts of tangles.

Related Characters: Reuben Land (speaker), Swede Land, Davy Land, August Schultz
Page Number: 153
Explanation and Analysis:
Something Warm Quotes

"Well," I said, "he wrote a whole book and it's in the Bible." Even Dad, much as I loved him, didn't have anything in there.

Related Characters: Reuben Land (speaker), Jeremiah Land (Dad), Swede Land
Page Number: 169
Explanation and Analysis:
The Skin Bag Quotes

I thought it was odd, the trainman not recognizing him and raising a stink, but Swede pointed out that this sort of thing happened all the time. How many times did Zorro gallop magnificently out of town, everyone watching, then show up five minutes later as Diego, still breathing hard? And no one ever figured that out.

Related Characters: Reuben Land (speaker), Swede Land, Roxanna Crawley
Page Number: 192
Explanation and Analysis:
The Red Farm Quotes

"I can't," he replied, after a moment. "You know that, Swede." He looked, right then, for the first time in years, his age, which was seventeen.

Related Characters: Davy Land (speaker), Reuben Land, Jeremiah Land (Dad), Swede Land
Page Number: 295
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Peace Like a River LitChart as a printable PDF.
Peace Like a River PDF

Swede Land Quotes in Peace Like a River

The Peace Like a River quotes below are all either spoken by Swede Land or refer to Swede Land. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Youth vs. Adulthood Theme Icon
).
His Separate Shadow Quotes

"Rube, you're almost like Davy now, aren't you. I mean, you shot a goose this morning."

Related Characters: Swede Land (speaker), Reuben Land, Davy Land
Page Number: 15
Explanation and Analysis:
Your Toughened Heart Quotes

When did it come to Davy Land that exile is a country of shifting borders, hard to quit yet hard to endure, no matter your wide shoulders, no matter your toughened heart?

Related Characters: Reuben Land (speaker), Swede Land, Davy Land
Page Number: 50
Explanation and Analysis:
Peeking at Eternity Quotes

Well, we all hold history differently inside us. For Swede such episodes retold themselves into a seamless and momentous narrative; she had a Homeric grasp on the significance of events, and still does; one of her recent letters asks, Is it hubris to believe we all live epics? (Perhaps it is, but I suspect she's not actually counting on me for an answer.)

Related Characters: Reuben Land (speaker), Jeremiah Land (Dad), Swede Land
Page Number: 55
Explanation and Analysis:

But the whole thing bothered Davy, and with Dad out of earshot he'd say so. You couldn't get blown around in a tornado, he said, and not get banged up. It didn't make sense. It wasn't right.
Swede challenged him. "Are you calling Dad a liar?"
"Of course not. I know it happened. It just shouldn't have. Don't you see that?"

Related Characters: Reuben Land (speaker), Swede Land (speaker), Davy Land (speaker), Jeremiah Land (Dad)
Page Number: 56
Explanation and Analysis:

"Just because I write it doesn't mean it really happened."

Related Characters: Swede Land (speaker), Reuben Land
Related Symbols: Sunny Sundown, Valdez
Page Number: 69
Explanation and Analysis:
When Sorrows Like Sea Billows Roll Quotes

My sister's resentments notwithstanding, Margery's pitiful recital contained a certain truth that I, at least, eventually had to face. Tommy Basca was an idiot, but he wasn't purebred evil. You could see looking at him that he might be somebody's Bubby.

Related Characters: Reuben Land (speaker), Swede Land, Tommy Basca
Page Number: 71
Explanation and Analysis:
Late in the Night When the Fires Are Out Quotes

"We'll wait till they're asleep—take some of Mrs. DeCuellar's cookies—offer 'em to the guard, tell him we've got to see Davy—when he turns to me you grab his gun," and so on. It was one of those rare moments when I actually felt older than Swede. Seizing it, I told her to grow up.

Related Characters: Reuben Land (speaker), Swede Land (speaker), Davy Land, Mrs. DeCuellar
Page Number: 87
Explanation and Analysis:
A Boy on a Horse Quotes

They were the harshest words I'd ever heard him speak. I watched him sipping his coffee, his face foreign with misgiving. How I wanted to understand him! But I was eleven, and my brother had escaped from the pit where my vanity had placed him (a vain notion itself, Swede has since pointed out, yet it was certainty to me). How could my father not be joyous over such a thing? Who in this world could ask for more?

Related Characters: Reuben Land (speaker), Jeremiah Land (Dad), Swede Land, Davy Land
Page Number: 95
Explanation and Analysis:

"She wasn't his wife!" Swede flared. Past tense, you notice—history, even the fictive kind, being beyond our influence.

Related Characters: Reuben Land (speaker), Swede Land (speaker)
Related Symbols: Sunny Sundown
Page Number: 106
Explanation and Analysis:
At War with This Whole World Quotes

I feared the outcome of honest speech—that it might reach forward in time and arrange events to come. If I told Swede I wanted Davy back, even at the cost of his freedom, might that not happen? And if I said what I sensed was the noble thing... might that not bring despair on this whole crusade of ours?

Related Characters: Reuben Land (speaker), Swede Land, Davy Land
Related Symbols: Valdez
Page Number: 152
Explanation and Analysis:

Could a person believe so strongly one way, yet take the opposite route? I wanted to ask Swede, but again, if I posed it aloud, it might become true, and then we were in for all sorts of tangles.

Related Characters: Reuben Land (speaker), Swede Land, Davy Land, August Schultz
Page Number: 153
Explanation and Analysis:
Something Warm Quotes

"Well," I said, "he wrote a whole book and it's in the Bible." Even Dad, much as I loved him, didn't have anything in there.

Related Characters: Reuben Land (speaker), Jeremiah Land (Dad), Swede Land
Page Number: 169
Explanation and Analysis:
The Skin Bag Quotes

I thought it was odd, the trainman not recognizing him and raising a stink, but Swede pointed out that this sort of thing happened all the time. How many times did Zorro gallop magnificently out of town, everyone watching, then show up five minutes later as Diego, still breathing hard? And no one ever figured that out.

Related Characters: Reuben Land (speaker), Swede Land, Roxanna Crawley
Page Number: 192
Explanation and Analysis:
The Red Farm Quotes

"I can't," he replied, after a moment. "You know that, Swede." He looked, right then, for the first time in years, his age, which was seventeen.

Related Characters: Davy Land (speaker), Reuben Land, Jeremiah Land (Dad), Swede Land
Page Number: 295
Explanation and Analysis: