About The Wheel

The wheel is designed to show the relationships in this book in a visual manner. It is divided into several different elements, and each of those elements is then dissected even further. This page will explain our perception of the play of love, hate, and friendship throughout the Feast of Love.

The inner and outer circles are the simplest division. There are three types of characters in the book. Bradley is the main character and is represented as the center of the wheel. Then there are characters that are directly related to Bradley, they are placed in the inner circle. Finally the residents of the outer circle are the characters that affect the people of the inner circle however, they have no direct correlation with Bradley. However, it is still important to maintain the connections of the outer circle because Bradley can still feel their affects through the members of the inner circle. Jenny and David are good examples of this. While neither one of these characters have any direct relation with Bradley, they pull away Kathryn and Diana, which in turn affects Bradley.

The next division can be thought of as the forces pulling and pushing on Bradley. The people are connected to him horizontally, Diana and Kathryn, take away from his life. They are pulling him apart. Margaret and Bradley the Dog were placed above Bradley because they are responsible for lifting his spirits and making a better human being. The characters of Harry and Chloe both add support to Bradley’s life by being his closest friends. They were placed beneath him for this reason. They are the people holding Bradley up. You’ll notice that Esther is placed beneath Harry and Oscar below Chloe. This is because Esther and Oscar don’t support Bradley directly but they are responsible for providing support for Harry and Chloe. Thus they are in the outer circle but are still critical to the whole picture. We must also discuss the characters Aaron and the Bat. They are placed in a horizontal manner in relationship to their characters. In order to understand why they were placed here, one must imagine what would happen if someone were to grab the balls representing Aaron and the Bat and pull on them. It would weaken the whole support structure Bradley has placed himself upon. David and Jenny are working in a similar manner as the Bat and Aaron. Imagine someone pulling at these two points as well. It places even more strain on Bradley and thus hurting him even more.

The analysis of each relationship can be obtained by clicking on the lines that connect them. You’ll notice that the text in each analysis is blue, green, or red. The purpose of this color-coded text is to show the three different types of interaction between all these characters. The red represents love. Love here is defined as a selfless act where neither person is looking to gain but simply to share their life. The blue represents friendship. This is also another type of selfless relationship. The people connected through blue analysis are simply there to be friends and help each other through the tribulations of life. Finally, the color green is used to represent the relationships which are neither love nor friendship. In these relationships one of the people is trying to gain something and not give anything back in return. These are the relationships that place strain on Bradley.

We must also make a note of the quote placed below the wheel. Chloe talks about cogs and wheel smeared all accorss the sky and people attached to them. This quote is where we found our inspiration for this wheel. The idea that all human beings are connected in one way or another is a very strong statement and as soon by this wheel and this book, a true one.

I hope that our analysis of the Feast of Love in this visual manner has helped other readers also get a closer and unique view of the complex relationship between the characters. If there are any questions or comments on our analysis, please don’t hesitate to e-mail us.