Previous
Allegory
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
Key Examples in Cloud Atlas
Allusions
Explanation and Analysis—Jocasta:
Jocasta shares a name with Oedipus's mother in the infamous Greek myth. As the story goes, Oedipus was cursed by the gods to one day murder his father and marry his mother. His parents abandon him after hearing the prophecy, only for Oedipus to be adopted by another family. Later in life, the prophecy comes true—Oedipus kills his father, Laius, on the road while traveling, unaware of his identity. Oedipus later marries Jocasta. When the couple learns the truth, Jocasta dies by suicide and Oedipus gouges his eyes out.
Related Themes:
Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—Greek and Roman Myth:
Mitchell frequently uses characters and stories from Greek or Roman mythology as elements of figurative language in the novel. These occur regardless of narrator. Note the following reference to Morpheus, the Greek god of sleep, from Chapter 1:
Unlock with LitCharts A+[Mr. D'Arnoq's] spoken history, for my money, holds company with the pen of a Defoe or Melville & I shall record it in these pages, after, Morpheus willing, a sound sleep.
Related Themes:
Chapter 2
Explanation and Analysis—Greek and Roman Myth:
Mitchell frequently uses characters and stories from Greek or Roman mythology as elements of figurative language in the novel. These occur regardless of narrator. Note the following reference to Morpheus, the Greek god of sleep, from Chapter 1:
Unlock with LitCharts A+[Mr. D'Arnoq's] spoken history, for my money, holds company with the pen of a Defoe or Melville & I shall record it in these pages, after, Morpheus willing, a sound sleep.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Oscar Wilde:
In the following passage from Chapter 2, Robert Frobisher alludes to Oscar Wilde's infamous novel The Picture of Dorian Gray:
Unlock with LitCharts A+I swear, Sixsmith, that warty old Shylock looks more repulsive every time I clap eyes on him. Has he got a magical portrait of himself stashed in his attic, getting more beautiful by the year?
Explanation and Analysis—Hosanna:
In the following excerpt from Chapter 2, Robert Frobisher recalls a visit from the famous composer Elgar. Robert and Ayrs spend several hours entertaining their esteemed musical guest. During this time, the three discuss Elgar's famous Pomp and Circumstance marches, commissioned by the King of England. Elgar uses a biblical allusion in their discussion:
Unlock with LitCharts A+I asked Elgar about the Pomp and Circumstance marches. “Oh, I needed the money, dear boy. But don’t tell anyone. The King might want my baronetcy back.” Ayrs went into laughter spasms at this! “I always say, Ted, to get the crowd to cry Hosanna, you must first ride into town on an ass. Backwards, ideally, whilst telling the masses the tall stories they want to hear.”
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Nietzche and Ayrs:
Throughout Chapters 2 and 10, Ayrs maintains a steady fascination with German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Robert comments on this several times, even referencing Thus Spake Zarathustra in Chapter 2:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Had another encounter—confrontation more the word—on Saturday just gone. I’d taken Ayrs’s bible, Also sprach Zarathustra, to the stone slab bridge over the lake to the willow-tree island.
Related Themes:
Chapter 4
Explanation and Analysis—Aurora House:
In Chapter 4, Timothy Cavendish finds himself trapped in Aurora House, a sanctified asylum his brother tricked him into entering. Processing this strange and disturbing development, Cavendish naturally alludes to a similar literary scenario:
Unlock with LitCharts A+“Aurora House does not expel,” said the sanctimonious moo, “but you will be medicated, if your behavior warrants it, for your own protection.”
Ominous, no? I had seen One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest with an extraordinarily talentless but wealthy and widowed poetess whose collected works, Verses Wild & Wayward, I was annotating but who was less widowed than initially claimed, alas. “Look, I’m sure you’re a reasonable woman.” The oxymoron passed without comment.
Chapter 6
Explanation and Analysis—The Fall:
In the following example of allusion from Chapter 6, Zachry references "the Fall," a global nuclear war and near-extinction event for the human species. "The Fall" also happens to be a reference to humanity's "Fall" from grace in the Christian Bible:
Unlock with LitCharts A+When I was a schooler I was ‘fraid of that tick-tockin’ spider watchin’n’judgin’ us. Abbess’d teached us Clock Tongue but I’d forgot it, ’cept for O’Clock an’ Half Past. I mem’ry Abbess sayin’, Civ’lize needs time, an’ if we let this clock die, time’ll die too, an’ then how can we bring back the Civ’lize Days as it was b’fore the Fall?
Related Themes:
Chapter 7
Explanation and Analysis—Soap:
In Chapter 7, Sonmi reveals the true nature of the government's brutal treatment of fabricants, much to the Archivist's shock and horror. In detailing the precise abuse of fabricants, Sonmi inadvertently alludes to another brutal historical regime:
Unlock with LitCharts A+The genomics industry demands huge quantities of liquefied biomatter, for wombtanks, but most of all, for Soap. What cheaper way to supply this protein than by recycling fabricants who have reached the end of their working lives? Additionally, leftover “reclaimed proteins” are used to produce Papa Song food products, eaten by consumers in the corp’s dineries all over Nea So Copros. It is a perfect food cycle.
Related Themes:
Chapter 10
Explanation and Analysis—Robert's Death:
In the following example of allusion from Chapter 10, Robert Frobisher muses on his surroundings as he works on the Cloud Atlas Sextet, laboring late into the night. The “church clock chiming at three A.M.” reminds Frobisher of a line from Mark Twain’s novel, Huckleberry Finn:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Spent last night working on a rumbling ’cello allegro lit by explosive triplets. Silence punctuated by breakneck mousetraps. Remember the church clock chiming three A.M. “I heard an owl,” Huckleberry Finn says, “away off, who-whooing about somebody that was dead, and a whippowill and a dog crying about somebody that was going to die.” Always haunted me, that line.
Related Themes:
