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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
Chapter 9
Explanation and Analysis—The Magic Flute:
In Chapter 9, Rick hunts down Luba Luft onstage at the opera house. This scene's extended allusion to Mozart's opera The Magic Flute employs dramatic irony:
Now Papageno in his fantastic pelt of bird feathers had joined Pamina to sing words which always brought tears to Rick’s eyes, when and if he happened to think about it.
Könnte jeder brave Mann
solche Glöckchen finden,
seine Feinde würden dann
ohne Mühe schwinden.
Well, Rick thought, in real life no such magic bells exist that make your enemy effortlessly disappear. Too bad. And Mozart, not long after writing The Magic Flute, had died—in his thirties—of kidney disease. And had been buried in an unmarked pauper’s grave.
Related Themes:
Chapter 12
Explanation and Analysis—The Scream:
In Chapter 12, Rick and Phil find Luba Luft at an Edvard Munch art exhibit. The scene begins with a poignant allusion, which later becomes the basis for a provocative simile:
Unlock with LitCharts A+The painting showed a hairless, oppressed creature with a head like an inverted pear, its hands clapped in horror to its ears, its mouth open in a vast, soundless scream. Twisted ripples of the creature’s torment, echoes of its cry, flooded out into the air surrounding it; the man or woman, whichever it was, had become contained by its own howl. It had covered its ears against its own sound. The creature stood on a bridge and no one else was present; the creature screamed in isolation. Cut off by—or despite—its outcry.
Related Themes:
Chapter 15
Explanation and Analysis—Euphemia:
In Chapter 15, Rick brings a new, real goat home to a delighted Iran. The name he suggests is an allusion that foreshadows what will come to pass between him and Rachael:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Something warned him. Something made him say, “Let’s not go down to the apartment yet. Let’s stay up here with the goat. Let’s just sit and look at her and maybe feed the goat something. They gave me a bag of oats to start us out. And we can read the manual on goat maintenance; they included that, too, at no extra charge. We can call her Euphemia.”
Related Themes:
