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Literary Devices
Definition of Allusion
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to other literary works, famous individuals, historical events, or philosophical ideas... read full definition
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to other literary works, famous individuals... read full definition
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to... read full definition
Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—A Brace of Mustaches:
In Chapter 1, Jack observes Willie's charisma at work as the Boss talks with his constituents in Mason City. Willie and his team visit the drugstore in town, and Willie strikes up conversation with the soda jerk. Jack doesn't know who he is, so he refers to him as "a tall, gaunt-shanked, malarial, leather-faced side of jerked venison, wearing jean pants and a brace of mustaches hanging off the kind of face you see in photographs of General Forrest's cavalrymen." Jack is making an allusion to General Nathan Bedford Forrest, the Confederate general known for his expertise with cavalry (earning him the nickname "the Wizard of the Saddle").
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Gimme:
In Chapter 1, Willie visits Mason City and speaks to a gathered crowd. He puts on a guise of informality—"I'm not going to make any speech," he says, convincing no one in attendance—before setting out to describe how all politicians are corrupt. That is, of course, all politicians except for him. He quotes from the Bible to make his point:
Unlock with LitCharts A+"The Good Book says, 'There are three things that are never satisfied, yea, four things say not, it is enough—'" and the voice was different now — "'the grave, and the barren womb, and the earth that is not filled with water, and the fire that saith not, it is enough.' But Solomon might have added just one little item. He might have just made his little list complete, and added, the politician who never stops saying, Gimme."
Related Themes:
Chapter 5
Explanation and Analysis—Repent Ye:
In Chapter 5, Jack goes to Baton Rouge to see the Scholarly Attorney, the man who he thinks to be his father. Jack knows that the Scholarly Attorney frequents a certain bodega in a Latino neighborhood, so Jack goes there to wait for him. He asks for a beer and notices a line from the Bible on the wall:
Unlock with LitCharts A+While I drank the beer I looked up above the counter and saw another one of the signs, painted on a big slab of plywood, or something of the sort, hanging from a nail. The background of the sign was bright red, there were blue scrolls of flowers in relief in the upper corners, the lettering was in black, high-lighted in white. It said: Repent ye; for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Matt., iii, 2.
Related Themes:
Chapter 7
Explanation and Analysis—Me Inside Blubber:
Jack recollects his past love with Anne in a long flashback in Chapter 7. He recounts this history in order to more fully understand his prior relationship to Anne after he found out that she had begun an affair with Willie. In this recollection, he describes a night in his roadster, driving around on a summer night:
Unlock with LitCharts A+She had rolled her head on the leather seat back, and touched her finger to her lips to say "Sh, sh," and smiled. And had sunk her harpoon deeper than ever Queequeg sunk it, through four feet of blubber to the very quick, but I hadn't really known it until the line played out and the barb jerked in the red meat which was the Me inside all the blubber of what I had thought I was. And might continue to think I was.
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