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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 6
Explanation and Analysis—Tonto:
In Chapter 6, Kimmerer describes her attempt to learn the Potawatomi language. To capture the silliness of her and her sister's poor Potawatomi skills, she alludes to the character Tonto from The Lone Ranger:
To call it speaking is a stretch. Really, all we do is blurt garbled phrases to each other in a parody of conversation: How are you? I am fine. Go to town. See bird. Red. Frybread good. We sound like Tonto’s side of the Hollywood dialogue with the Lone Ranger. “Me try talk good Injun way.” On the rare occasion when we actually can string together a halfway coherent thought, we freely insert high school Spanish words to fill in the gaps, making a language we call Spanawatomi.
Related Themes:
Chapter 12
Explanation and Analysis—Slant of Light:
In Chapter 12, Robin has an epiphany: the earth is a mother who is always giving gifts to her children, all living creatures. As she describes this realization, she alludes to Emily Dickinson:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Maybe it was the smell of ripe tomatoes, or the oriole singing, or that certain slant of light on a yellow afternoon and the beans hanging thick around me. It just came to me in a wash of happiness that made me laugh out loud, startling the chickadees who were picking at the sunflowers, raining black and white hulls on the ground. I knew it with a certainty as warm and clear as the September sunshine. The land loves us back.
Related Themes:
Chapter 19
Explanation and Analysis—Music of the Spheres:
In Chapter 19, Kimmerer recalls a time early in her teaching career when she took a group of premed students on a camping trip to the Smoky Mountains. She uses a metaphor alluding to ancient Greek philosophy to capture the frustrating gap between her own appreciation of nature and her students' disinterest in it:
Unlock with LitCharts A+To me ecological insight was the music of the spheres, but to them it was just one more requirement in their premed education. A biological story that wasn’t about humans was of little interest.
Related Themes:
