Mr. Blaber English 1 Peace Like a River Presentation Topics Background Peace Like a River takes us to a small Minnesota town in the mid 1960's and revolves around the Land family, whose members include: father, Jeremiah, the eldest sibling Davy, nine-year-old Swede, and the narrator, 11-year-old Reuben. One night two men break into the Land's home and it changes the family forever. Davy is controversially convicted of murder, but before he can be sent to prison, he flees to the Badlands of North Dakota. Compelled by circumstances that Jeremiah believes to be a sign of God's will, the family sets out to find Davy. Throughout their adventure they make friends and elude adversaries, including an FBI agent who follows the family because he expects them to lead him to Davy. Repeatedly things work out in a manner that leads young Reuben to believe his father is performing miracles. These miracles occur throughout their quest, and the family often waits for a sign from God before proceeding, as they believe that they are simply being led to Davy by God, rather than finding him themselves. Presentation Topics While reading the novel, you will work in groups to research and present your findings on one of the topics listed here. Each of these topics relates in an integral manner to some aspect of the novel’s characterization, themes, or settings. Each group will develop and deliver a 15-minute presentation using PowerPoint. Each team member must create and present at least two slides for a total of 10-12 slides per team. Topic #1 Setting — Dakota Badlands Much of the novel is set in the Badlands of North Dakota. As the novel progresses, the landscape has an increasingly important relationship to the Land family. Located in southwestern South Dakota, Badlands National Park consists of 244,000 acres of sharply eroded buttes, pinnacles and spires blended with the largest, protected mixed grass prairie in the United States. Research this unique national treasure, and present your findings to the class on the landscape, the history, and the people who have inhabited the Dakota Badlands. The National Parks' website: http://www.nps.gov/badl/. Also see: • Badlands National Park : http://www.badlands.national-park.com/ • Encyclopedia entry on "Badlands" : http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Badlands-National-Park • Badlands Natural History Association : http://www.nps.gov/badl/exp/bnha.htm Page 1 of 3
Topic #2—Allusions The novel is rich with allusions to real historical characters as well as fictional personas. Taken together, these characters represent a pantheon of figures that embody what might be called the “Spirit of the American West.” Research the following real and fictional characters, and present your findings to the class on how each individual character helped shape our image of frontier life. Your presentation should cover the following: � Teddy Roosevelt � Zane Grey � Butch Cassidy � Lewis & Clark � Natty Bumpo Topic #3—Western Literature & Cowboy Poetry In the novel, the side story of an infamous outlaw "Sunny Sundown" is created by Swede, who loves to write about the Wild West. Her poetic tale of Sunny parallels the journey of the Land family as Swede continually writes more over the course of their search for the wayward Davy. America's "Old West" was a popular setting for literature, poetry, and music. It became a natural backdrop for romanticized tales of cowboy heroes conquering man and nature (however politically incorrect by today's standards). These tales made for such great action images as barroom brawls, shoot-outs, runaway stagecoaches, cattle stampedes, and fancy horse riding. Your objective for this topic is to show the class how popular writing about the West has shaped and continues to influence readers' perceptions and public images of life on the frontier. First, read "Chapter XIII Solitude and Storm" from Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey. This novel, first published in 1912 and still in print, takes place in Utah in 1871, is replete with action, including cattle rustlers, sharpshooters, and brave heroines. In this chapter Venters and Bess explore the "kivas" of ancient cliff dwellers and are exposed to a violent thunderstorm, which becomes at the end of the chapter a symbol of "a storm of real love." The chapter includes several descriptive passages that are parallels for the romantic paintings of the West that were popular in the East, and gives a sense of the awe and mystery of a place where long extinct tribes once lived. Next, visit a web site listed below and read some examples of “Cowboy Poetry.” In your presentation, summarize the action of the Zane Grey chapter, and use examples from the text to illustrate imagery, language, characterization, and thematic elements that you believe are typical of this genre of popular Western fiction. Do the same for one or more cowboy poems. Other resources for your research include: • Western Literature Association : http://www.usu.edu/westlit/ Contains information about this association and events in the Western Literature community. Also includes a list of links to other western sites. • A Literary History of the American West http://www2.tcu.edu/depts/prs/amwest/ A free online book from the Western Literature Association and Texas Christian University. Page 2 of 3
• CowboyPoetry.com -This website "celebrates our Western heritage and today's working West, dedicated to preserving our important history and to promoting the Western arts that carry on those traditions." • The Wyoming Companion - http://www.wyomingcompanion.com/ A collection of poems and links to other cowboy poetry websites. Topic #4—Miracles Young Reuben Land, the narrator of Peace Like a River , considers himself somewhat of an expert on miracles. He believes the only reason he survived at birth is to bear witness to the miracles performed by his father. Let me say something about that word: miracle. For too long it’s been used to characterize things or events that, though pleasant, are entirely normal. Peeping chicks at Easter time, spring generally, a clear sunrise after an overcast week – a miracle, people say, as if they’ve been educated from greeting cards. I’m sorry, but nope. Such things are worth our notice every day of the week, but to call them miracles evaporates the strength of the word. Real miracles bother people, like strange sudden pains unknown in medical literature. It’s true: They rebut every rule all we good citizens take comfort in. Lazarus obeying orders and climbing up out of the grave – now there’s a miracle, and you can bet it upset a lot of folks who were standing around at the time. When a person dies, the earth is generally unwilling to cough him back up. A miracle contradicts the will of earth. (p. 3) Although the characters in this book are Christian, the idea of miracles is not restricted to one religious belief. Read more about miracles on these web sites: � Academic Study of Miracles - http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/philosophy/staff/luck/index.html � A site by Professor Morgan Luck at the University of Nottingham. � Wikipedia entry on miracles -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle � http://www.mcn.org/1/Miracles/ -- Archive of news articles dealing with miracles. � Your objective for this topic is to present a summary of the available scholarship on the topic of miracles. Questions to consider include: How do various organized religions view the concept of miracles? What are some examples of incidents reputed to be miracles? You may want to survey your peers. Do they believe in miracles? Why, or why not? Page 3 of 3
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