Self Defense In Swede's Peace Like A River

663 Words2 Pages

The inevitable argument begins when an intruder is killed within the privacy of someone's home. People may argue it is self defense and that the intruder deserved the bullet. Others may side with the fact that it was indeed a homicide. Once the line is crossed from public to private property, protecting your family becomes number one. In the novel Peace Like a River, the Land family led by the father Jeremiah and children Davy, Reuben, and Swede undergo small town scrutiny after an act of “self defense” occurs. At first, the shooting ruffled the towns feathers and left the people to sympathize with Davy's action. Then, the tides began to change along with the sympathetic people who now looked at the intruders, Tommy and Israel, as innocent teens. …show more content…

Swede began to write her feelings down in the form of a short story but what came next would be to hard to describe in words. On page 48 the madness began describing the break in and how Davy was oldly ready to shoot. After both boys laid tenseless in the hallway, police arrived talking Davy into custody. Letters flowed in like the ocean at high tide. At first the people gave support to the chivalrous act of self defense then, letters soon transformed into bashful written opinions on the incident once Tommy and Israel's youthful and caring profiles were highlighted. The interference caused the truth to come out as davy stated the boys deserved it while he showed no remorse just understanding. Soon after the guilty plea, Davy did escape his jail cell which was as uncalled for as sun on a cloudy day. With the murder no longer being justified by the people, a manhunt

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