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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 2
Explanation and Analysis—The Purple Land:
As Hemingway introduces readers to Robert Cohn, he establishes Cohn as a wistful and somewhat hopeless romantic. To drive the point home, in Chapter 1, he makes a double allusion to W. H. Hudson’s 19th-century novel The Purple Land and to the writing of Horatio Alger:
[...] Cohn had read and reread The Purple Land. The Purple Land is a very sinister book if read too late in life. It recounts splendid imaginary amorous adventures of a perfect English gentleman in an intensely romantic land, the scenery of which is very well described. For a man to take it at thirty-four as a guide-book to what life holds is about as safe as it would be for a man of the same age to enter Wall Street direct from a French convent, equipped with a complete set of the more practical Alger books.
Chapter 12
Explanation and Analysis—Jake the Bookworm:
Throughout the novel, Jake reads a number of books. The first of these he pages through while lounging against the trunk of a tree on his fishing trip with Bill, in Chapter 12:
Unlock with LitCharts A+It was a little past noon and there was not much shade, but I sat against the trunk of two of the trees that grew together, and read. The book was something by A. E. W. Mason, and I was reading a wonderful story about a man who had been frozen in the Alps and then fallen into a glacier and disappeared, and his bride was going to wait twenty-four years exactly for his body to come out on the moraine, while her true love waited too, and they were still waiting when Bill came up.
Related Themes:
Chapter 13
Explanation and Analysis—Circe:
In Chapter 13, Mike lets slip that Robert refers to Brett by the name Circe:
Unlock with LitCharts A+"I can't tell him. It's too ridiculous."
"I'll tell him."
"You won't, Michael. Don't be an ass."
"He calls her Circe," Mike said. "He claims she turns men into swine. Damn good. I wish I were one of these literary chaps."
Related Themes:
Chapter 14
Explanation and Analysis—Jake the Bookworm:
Throughout the novel, Jake reads a number of books. The first of these he pages through while lounging against the trunk of a tree on his fishing trip with Bill, in Chapter 12:
Unlock with LitCharts A+It was a little past noon and there was not much shade, but I sat against the trunk of two of the trees that grew together, and read. The book was something by A. E. W. Mason, and I was reading a wonderful story about a man who had been frozen in the Alps and then fallen into a glacier and disappeared, and his bride was going to wait twenty-four years exactly for his body to come out on the moraine, while her true love waited too, and they were still waiting when Bill came up.
Related Themes:
