How does Reuben’s asthma affect the story, Peace Like a River? Reuben’s asthma affects the story because it creates an internal conflict Reuben has to face from the day he was born. Since Reuben’s birth, he had always possessed “swampy lungs”. At Roxanne’s home, as his father, Jeremiah, landed a great “thump” onto Reuben’s back with his fist repeatedly, the amount of excruciating pain convulsing through his body felt “like a car wreck” (184). However, Reuben faces the pain because “with each painful thump” he “got a little breath back” (184). It is evident that Reuben tries to conquer his internal conflict because as a young boy, he does not cry and thinks of the positive factors that he will receive from the pain. From each pound by his father’s hand, he is able to breathe a bit better. Also, from the same moment, Reuben recalls the memory as a “joyous bruising that bit by bit knocked glue from [his] lungs. [He] pictured it coming away in gobs” (184). The conflict Reuben has with his asthma strengthens him as a character as well. He is capable of accepting the fact that he is unable to breath properly, but is cascaded with sorrow when he helplessly “crawled back in bed under the weight of the sun and joy and adventure happening outdoors” (185). Reuben realizes that asthma is his weakness, and while clutching the truth to his heart, he declares that he “might not fight so hard next time” since it seemed pretty pointless in doing so (185). It seems as if Reuben has lost all
