The Prairie, Chapter 14 Summary

The final chapter of the novel is an excerpt from Tap Axton's novel, complete with misspellings. It tells the story of Orville Benton, a fictionalized version of a young Owen Brademas. As a revival meeting with his family, Orville tries to speak in tongues but is ashamed to find he cannot. The congregants around him - even his mother - mock him for his inability. Frightened of the preacher's glare, Orville flees the church into the pouring rain.

The Prairie, Chapter 14 Analysis

The novel ends with one last thematic layer. Owen Brademas has once again failed to experience a spiritual transcendence, and Tap Axton immortalizes this frustration in The Prairie. The Names is a narrative of language and faith. They are inextricable from each other, either on the island, mountain, desert, or revival meeting of the prairie.

Owen, James's...