Lee Smith “Tongues of Fire”

Consider the following questions for your posting. (You don’t have to answer every question; just use the ones that inspire you to get going.)

As expressed in “Tongues of Fire,” what are the rules for being a proper southern lady? (How do you feel about these?)

How do the narrator and the other females in the story comply with or deviate from these rules?

How do you feel about the narrator’s mother? How does she compare with Laura’s mother in “The Garden Party”? The mothers in “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall,” “Good Country People,” or “Why I Live at the P.O.”? Out of all the female characters we’ve encountered this semester, who would you most want as a mother (if any of them) and why?

How does “extreme spirituality” fit into this equation (being a proper southern lady or mother)?

In the story, what is the relationship between religion and passion?

Some of the rules of being a proper southern lady, which the mom expresses in “Tongues of Fire,” are that you are to entertain, throw parties, serve on committees, and go to club meetings. Another rule is that you always “rise above the occasion” in hard times, like their father’s “nervous breakdown.” Mother also had another rule that “a lady never lets silence fall.” So she would talk and talk about whatever came into her mind to “fill the void.” Finally the mom also expresses that her family is not the type that “goes out in the county and immerses ourselves in water,” referring to Karen being baptized at Tammy’s church. 

Karen’s mom seems pretty close minded and uptight. She is more concerned about their family looking proper and put together, just as Karen expresses when they all go to the country golf club early in the story.

Although Karen does become very religious and passionate, I don’t feel like she truly understands what her religion is really all about. She only prays when she needs something from God, when she needs to cover a lie or pray for healing. Then she forgets to pray or gets too tired to remember to pray when things are all alright or when she needs to pray thanksgiving. She has a lot of interest and passion for the supernatural and for being saved, but she’s still so young and is still in a very selfish mind set. I don’t think this is how any religion would want it to be.