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Allusion
Explanation and Analysis—Catholic Relief Act:
At a few points in the novel, the narrator mentions “the Catholic question,” an allusion to the Catholic Relief Act of 1829, as seen in the following passage:
But with the Catholic Question had come a slight wind of controversy to break the calm: the elderly rector had become occasionally historical and argumentative, and Mr Spray, the Independent minister, had begun to preach political sermons, in which he distinguished with much subtlety between his fervent belief in the right of the Catholics to the franchise and his fervent belief in their eternal perdition.
The Catholic Relief Act allowed Catholics to legally become members of Parliament (which, until that point, had only been open to members of the Church of England) and overturned policies like the Penal Laws that imposed fines on people who did not attend Church of England services.
As the quote makes clear, the minister in St. Ogg’s acts as if he supports the passing of the Catholic Relief Act while also reinforcing his belief in Catholics’ “eternal perdition” (or damnation). Readers are meant to understand the minister as a stand-in for the anti-Catholic town generally—St. Ogg’s is a provincial place where prejudice and ignorance are rarely challenged.
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