The+Tongues+of+Angels

=**Title of the Work:**= __The Tongue of Angels__

=Author:=

Reynolds Price

=Nationality/Ethnic Background:= American, Southern Writer

=Genre and Sub-genres:= Fiction

=Pertinent Biographical Information= Reynolds Price was born in Macon, North Carolina in 1933. While attending Duke University, Price received his A.B. In 1955, shortly after his graduation from Duke University, Price became a Rhodes Scholar at Merton College, Oxford, where he studied for three years. Wanting to come back to the States, Price returned to Duke University and continued his teachings as the James B. Duke Professor of English. As his love for writing increased, shortly after returning to the States, Price's first novel, A long and Happy Life, was published in 1962.

Reynolds Price, an author of over thirty books, includes texts of, //Roxanna Slade//, //A Singular Family//, and //Kate Vaiden//, which was a winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award. Price is also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, currently residing in the Piedmont countryside of North Carolina.

=Literary Historical Period/Movement and Pertinent Background= The story is set in the tranquil summer of 1954 at a boy's camp, camp Juniper in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.

=Major Characters, Their Relationships, Their Conflicts:=
 * 1) **Bridge** - Is the protagonist of the novel, 21 years old art teacher of camp Juniper. Holds a brotherly bond with his camper, Rafe.
 * 2) **Raphael Noren -** Second main character, very supportive for Bridge; has a very hard time overcoming the death of his mother; influential and respected by all campers at camp Juniper.

=Brief Plot Summary= Bridge, a middle aged artist, recalls a summer experience as a counselor at Camp Juniper in the Blue Ridge Mountains in 1954. During his first year at camp Juniper Bridge befriends a 14 year old boy named Rapheal Noren (Rafe). The narrator (Bridge) is haunted by his past and he aims to find self meaning and confront the issues of his lurking past at Camp Juniper, the main setting of the novel. As Bridge progresses through the summer he grows closer to one kid in particular. He discovers that Rafe and himself share common characteristic. The summer progresses and the two men learn and grow on each other, finding that they have both experienced tragic deaths in their lives.. This allowed them to bond and overcome the deaths together, because grief is never easy alone. Along the way they learned the meaning of love and brotherhood. The Tongue of Angels encompasses a series of motifs such as death, loneliness, the power of art, brotherhood, and fathers. =Motifs (Recurring Images, Ideas, Figures of Speech, Symbols, Colors) & Their Thematic Significance= - The relationships that Bridge and Rafe, and Chief and the campers portray the positives in having a father, mentor, and brother to look up to in a time of need. Each relationship between the guys connect as all boys must use each other to get through their struggles. -[Bridge] "I said 'Jesus says God always answers like the father he is" (P155) : Price is trying to stress the impact of God on all creatures; Christians believe that God is the Father of all. =Other Significant Thematic Elements (Significant Character's Names, Significant Quotations, Significant Actions/Events)=
 * **Angels** - Symbolizes purity and the spiritual aspect of nature, as well as the characters. The thought of angels comes from Bridge, the protagonist, who has a habit of drawing them.
 * **Fathers** - The need for fathers and the impact of fathers are used heavily through Price's novel by creating characters that go through numerous problems of life, religion, and death.
 * **Death** - Price uses death to demonstrate the struggles between all characters, such as the death of Rafe's mom, and Rafe. Death portrays how society suffers through their struggles.
 * **Guilt -** Guilt is obtained as Bridge faces a death that he feels as if it is his fault. Rafe's death gives Bridge guilt because he feels that he could prevent it because they were so close. The struggles of guilt come through the hardships through their relationships and the death around them. Bridge knows that Rafe and his father were close, and as a father figure, Rafe's death is his responsibility.
 * **Sticks** - Sticks are used in order to speak through the nature side of everything, giving emphasis on the guy's lives, relationships, and maturity. A quotation from Bridge states, "(Pg. 170) A few sticks had been beat down by rain. It didn't seem advisable to prop them up. That would alter fate."
 * **Feathers -** The feather became a major symbol through Bridge;s retrieval in their ceremony as the boys give him the feather due to all of his struggles that Bridge has been through, and by him getting through them all as strong as he did.


 * (Ray) - St. Paul explains the meaning of the novel by his quote "Though I speak with tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity--" (p151).
 * (p75) Rafe's absurdness about his music and dance in the Indian realm by "Needless to say Rafe was another Indian lore enthusiast".
 * (p182) "Not to try to answer every big question the moment fate asks it." Bridge's opinion that at special moments of life, one should not make final conclusions.
 * (p87) "I'd been fascinated by the fairy world wide idea of angels...So an angel in the sacred sense, is a messenger from and to a divine center." This describes the word angel and the meaning it has to the book.
 * (p136) " The really rich are different from you and me-- they're starved. And what they crave of course is what we never give them. The way other people want peace and quiet, the rich want absolute love and loyalty in spite of their money. If you don't believe me., then don't ever try to feed one. You'll be chewed up, swallowed, digested and flushed before you can cry help 'Help!' " Bridge described how he has learned not to try to please someone because he/she has been through a bad situation. He compares Ray to a rich person who doesn't want money but "love and loyalty" instead. Ray compares to the rich, but he also describes the rich as being starved of affection, faithfulness, and trust. Bridge learns that the love and loyalty he provides Ray with is not enough to please a starved one as such, so he puts an end to all of his good deeds.

=Major Themes=
 * Life goes on, even when one is at their lowest: "It's a serious thing, agreeing to watch a loved one through so much pain and humiliation that you're helpless to ease, much less stop." (p156)
 * "The world's outlines almost never behave the wasy people think they do" (p70)
 * The love and loyalty one provides another, is not enough to please a starved one: "The really rich are different from you and me-they're starved. And what they crave of course is what we never give them. The way other people want [eace and quiet, the rich want absolute love and loyalty in spite of their money. If you don't believe me, then don't believe me, then don't ever try to feed one. You'll be chewed up swallowed, digested and flushed before you can cry help 'Help!" (p136)
 * Ray is use to encouraging himself because his father is not there, and his mother is dead. Ray has learneed to be strong, and he prays to himself, not to God. Ray doesn't trust in God, so he tries to answer his own prayers. - "Maybe in Rafe it came from the certain fact that he had got very few prayers answered, so he kept turning up the volume. In force, not loudness." (p109)
 * I'm as peaceful a man as you're likely to meet in America now-- Bridge
 * "Mean while twice a week I set up still lives or led the boys to interesting views.... Those are the codes of life and of life's own draftsman." (p29)