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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
Key Examples in The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg
Allusions
Explanation and Analysis—The Lord's Prayer:
Throughout "The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg," Twain's characters mutter the Hadleyburg motto as “lead us not into temptation." By the end of the story, Twain playfully reverses the meaning of the motto by removing just one word: “lead us into temptation.” The original phrase is a biblical allusion, to the "Lord's Prayer," from Matthew 6:13: “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever.”
Related Themes:
Section 1
Explanation and Analysis—To Whom the Bread Floats:
In Section 1, Mary Richards laments that her husband, Edward, was not the man who performed the favor that earned the mysterious sack of gold as a reward. As she remarks on the "fortune" that the gold represents for whoever had been kind enough to perform this favor, she makes an idiomatic allusion:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Mrs. Richards sat down, gently quivering with excitement, and was soon lost in thinkings—after this pattern: “What a strange thing it is!...And what a fortune for that kind man who set his bread afloat on the waters!...If it had only been my husband that did it!—for we are so poor, so old and so poor!
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Riding the Rails:
From the very beginning of Twain's story, it is clear that the supposedly virtuous citizens of Hadleyburg have a particular disposition toward vindictiveness and cruelty. As Edward Richards discusses his history with Reverend Burgess in Section 1, he reveals some of this darker side through an allusion to an attempted punishment of Burgess for an unspecified misdeed:
Unlock with LitCharts A+"I can explain it. It's another confession. When the thing was new and hot, and the town made a plan to ride him on a rail, my conscience hurt me so that I couldn't stand it, and I went privately and gave him notice, and he got out of the town and staid out till it was safe to come back."
Related Themes:
Section 3
Explanation and Analysis—Unwrung Withers:
In Section 3, the stranger (and the many, many other people who have long awaited Hadleyburg's downfall) finally begin to get their revenge on the town for its excruciating sense of superiority and brutal treatment of outsiders: eighteen of the nineteen prominent citizens of Hadleyburg have revealed themselves to be liars and frauds by all concurrently claiming to be the rightful heir to the mysterious sack of gold. The joy of the crowd, witness to this spectacular fall from grace, only grows as Reverend Burgess reveals the claim made by each successive member of the Nineteen. When Burgess reveals Mr. Pinkerton's claim to the bag, only the third to be read, Twain uses an idiomatic expression that comes from Shakespeare's Hamlet to express the crowd's delight:
Unlock with LitCharts A+The pandemonium of delight which turned itself loose was of a sort to make the judicious weep. Those whose withers were unwrung laughed until tears ran down[.]
Related Themes:
