58 pages • 1 hour read
Susan EeAngelfall
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2011A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Literary Context: 2010s Apocalyptic YA Novels
Although dystopian and apocalyptic literature is far older than the 2010s—arguably, the biblical book of Revelation counts as apocalyptic literature—Angelfall was published at the height of the YA dystopian novel boom, which lasted from approximately 2010 to 2015. While some of the most popular novels in the subgenre were published slightly before this (like The Hunger Games in 2008 or The Maze Runner in 2009), their height of popularity came slightly later, spawning hundreds of similar books in a massive trend that marked a new height for young adult literature as a genre. The trend focused heavily on trilogies; most of the most popular cases were trilogies, with occasional spinoffs added on later. Angelfall adopts many of the tropes common to novels in this specific period—a cynical teenaged girl protagonist with a star-crossed love interest; a modern world wrecked beyond recognition by war, disease, or outside forces; and relatively simple prose with a first-person narrator. In many cases, protecting family members is a key motivation for the protagonists; like Penryn and Paige, The Hunger Games’s Katniss is motivated by saving her own younger sister, Prim. Angelfall, however, is less dystopian and more apocalyptic, focusing more on the survival of Penryn in an utterly hostile environment than her efforts to take on an oppressive government. The genre is also often heavily focused on romance—very few examples do not involve either one or two typically male love interests. Above all, however, these books reflected anxieties about the world and existence relatable to teenagers and young adults growing up in the 2010s. As the reader base gained social and political context, books like Angelfall reflected their fears, such as being suddenly responsible for their family’s safety in a crisis.
Cultural Context: Angel Mythology Across Cultures
Angels are typically presented in Abrahamic religions (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam) as messengers and servants of God, protectors of humankind, and, at times, harbingers of the apocalypse. Angelfall borrows heavily from all three mythologies as well as from popular art and culture surrounding angels. There are several differences, however: Angelfall presents the angels as beings superior to humans, but all three religions portray angels as significant yet far less important to God than human beings (particularly Judaism, which emphasizes their lack of autonomy). Additionally, while most religions have extensive detail about the ranking and social structures of the angels, Angelfall reduces this to simply warriors, archangels, and the Messenger, with a few other angels in very human roles, like Laylah as the doctor.
Many of the angels are drawn from actual angels in folklore and religious texts, although their sources vary in origin. Many angels can be sourced from apocryphal works rather than the source texts of the religions themselves. Raphael, Gabriel, Uriel, and Beliel are recognizable names, although they too have some differences from their religious counterparts. Raphael is characterized as a peaceful angel of healing, rather than a war general, while Uriel is the angel of knowledge and the arts. Additionally, while Laylah is an angel in the Talmud (often spelled Lailah), they do not have a specified gender, despite their typical associations with pregnancy. The physical appearance of the angels—invariably attractive individuals with bird wings of varying colors—reflects the typical appearance of angels in modern Christianity. Traditional depictions of angels throughout history, however, were deliberately genderless, reflecting their heavenly nature (since gender was often seen as a human experience). Wings were an early addition to angel art—appearing in art from the early 300s CE—but angels are rarely, if ever, mentioned with wings in source texts. Thus, the depiction of angels in Angelfall is more aligned with modern understandings of angels than historical ones.
