The congregation is apparently seized by the Spirit of the Holy Ghost and begins speaking in tongues. However, Bobby Groves is able to take sufficient control of this supernatural happening to make it seem as if God Himself is discrediting Ruth. The supernatural allusions within Book of Days contrast with the fluid straight- forwardness of most of the storytelling. Tales of the Lost Formicans also uses the supernatural to contrast a fairly straightforward story, but with space aliens in place of the spiritual manifestations. The differing choices of supernatural figures highlights the differences in tone between the two plays.
Religion represents all that is irrational and hidden in human experience.
Aliens, by contrast, are representative of logic and technology. Similarly, small towns are much closer to the primitive roots of humanity whereas the suburbs were largely built as an extension of the hope of America's future and technological progress. This vision of the suburbs is perfectly described in Formicans by Jim, who helped build them. Think of the changes in the last hundred years. Like the town of Dublin, Missouri, the suburbs of Colorado crack apart with the fall of a Patriarch.