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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. The Day the World Ended
Explanation and Analysis—Jonah:
John’s allusions set Cat’s Cradle on familiar terms, laying down thematic signposts and precedents for the speculative satire. In fact, the novel opens with both a famous name and line:
Call me Jonah. My parents did, or nearly did. They called me John.
Jonah—John—If I had been a Sam, I would have been a Jonah still—not because I have been unlucky for others, but because somebody or something has compelled me to be certain places at certain times, without fail. Conveyances and motives, both conventional and bizarre, have been provided. And, according to plan, at each appointed second, at each appointed place this Jonah was there.
Related Themes:
Chapter 32. Dynamite Money
Explanation and Analysis—Nobel's Dynamite:
Allusions flag familiar narratives. In Cat’s Cradle, they also tease out the deeper meanings within social and cultural institutions. John’s trip to Ilium’s tombstone salesroom brings him into a conversation with Marvin Breed, who explains the source of Dr. Hoenikker’s wealth and prompts a historical reflection:
Unlock with LitCharts A+‘Nobel Prize money bought it. Two things that money bought: a cottage on Cape Cod and that monument.’
‘Dynamite money,’ I marveled, thinking of the violence of dynamite and the absolute repose of a tombstone and a summer home.
‘What?’
‘Nobel invented dynamite.’
Related Themes:
Chapter 51. O.K., Mom
Explanation and Analysis—The Brobdingnagians:
Just as luck would have it, John meets Newt during his plane ride bound for San Lorenzo in Chapter 51. Their meeting makes for a remarkable stroke of both coincidence and allusion:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Newt was a very tiny young man indeed, though not grotesque. He was as nicely scaled as Gulliver among the Brobdingnagians, and as shrewdly watchful, too.
Related Themes:
Chapter 123. Of Mice and Men
Explanation and Analysis—Swiss Family Robinson:
Papa Monzano’s release of ice-nine sends San Lorenzo hurtling towards destruction. But as the world around him freezes, John’s allusion tries tethering his devastated new reality to the memories of a more familiar, pre-apocalyptic world. In Chapter 123, he recounts his time in hiding with the remaining two Hoenikkers and the Crosby couple:
Unlock with LitCharts A+A curious six months followed—the six months in which I wrote this book. Hazel spoke accurately when she called our little society the Swiss Family Robinson, for we had survived a storm, were isolated, and then the living became very easy indeed. It was not without a certain Walt Disney charm.
Related Themes:
