My Favorite Literary Term: Allusion
"Hey, have you noticed that 'Bones' has jumped the shark?"
"Ariel has found her Mr. Darcy."
"It's not like they are making us sit at the back of the bus, they just don't want us to get married to each other."
Each of the three examples above in italics are allusions. An allusion is a reference to a person, an event, or another literary work that exists outside of whatever you are reading. The purpose of the allusion is to help communicate an idea in a richer way, but with less work than explaining it yourself.
The key here is that the allusion makes the writing richer while making it less wordy in the long run.
So, let me break down the examples I gave you.
The first one "jumped the shark" is a reference to something that actually happened in a television show. "Happy Days" was the name of the show, and "The Fonz" was a character. This character would lean up against the jukebox and say "Heeeeyyy" in a way that became one of the first catch phrases of American Television.
Anyway, after several seasons the writers were running out of ideas and though, "Hey! Let's have "The Fonz" learn to water ski and we can get him into all sorts of crazy hijinks." One of those hijinks was going over a ski jump and sailing over a shark. "Happy Days" was in its decline as a viable TV show at this time, and this shark nonsense was just one of the signs that the show was over.
Thus, for those of us who saw the show, "jumping the shark" is a reference to a specific television show and a specific context.
Wikipedia will tell you that "jumping the shark" is an idiom. I can't argue with that, but I have also lived a while and remember seeing the show. Consequently, it is an pop culture allusion for me.
"Mr. Darcy" is a character in Jan Austin's novel "Pride and Prejudice" thus making this a literary allusion. He has come to stand in for all of the desirable qualities a woman seeks in a man. This character has also brought forth a sub genre of literature. Search for "Mr. Darcy" on BarnesandNoble.com and you get 78 different titles based on the guy.
To have found your "Mr. Darcy" implies that you have found a match that will complement you intellectually and emotionally. It does not mean that you have found a hunk that you will look at all day long. It is made quite clear in the novel that Mr. Darcy is not that attractive, and he has an attitude to boot.
So, I don't want you thinking that finding a "Mr. Darcy" is easy. No folks, it takes some effort and frustration.
The last example "the back of the bus" is an obvious, well-- at least to most Americans, reverence to the civil rights movement and how buses were segregated with whites at the front and blacks at the back. This historical allusion calls to mind the small minded, bigoted, racist things that people have done.
As the civil rights movement has changed to address issues of today, so have political cartoons. Sitting at the back of the bus was a physical reminder that blacks were thought of as "not quite" people, and were made to sit in certain places so that the whites were not "contaminated" with black germs.
Today issues like same sex marriage are not protested in a public way on mass. Instead of being obvious about the bigoted actions, people attempt to be more PC. Covert inequality is still inequality, hence the historical allusion to the civil rights movement.
Okay kids. I hope you found today's lesson useful.
Your job is to go forth and say more by saying less-- use some allusions!
"Ariel has found her Mr. Darcy."
"It's not like they are making us sit at the back of the bus, they just don't want us to get married to each other."
Each of the three examples above in italics are allusions. An allusion is a reference to a person, an event, or another literary work that exists outside of whatever you are reading. The purpose of the allusion is to help communicate an idea in a richer way, but with less work than explaining it yourself.
The key here is that the allusion makes the writing richer while making it less wordy in the long run.
So, let me break down the examples I gave you.
The first one "jumped the shark" is a reference to something that actually happened in a television show. "Happy Days" was the name of the show, and "The Fonz" was a character. This character would lean up against the jukebox and say "Heeeeyyy" in a way that became one of the first catch phrases of American Television.
Anyway, after several seasons the writers were running out of ideas and though, "Hey! Let's have "The Fonz" learn to water ski and we can get him into all sorts of crazy hijinks." One of those hijinks was going over a ski jump and sailing over a shark. "Happy Days" was in its decline as a viable TV show at this time, and this shark nonsense was just one of the signs that the show was over.
Thus, for those of us who saw the show, "jumping the shark" is a reference to a specific television show and a specific context.
Wikipedia will tell you that "jumping the shark" is an idiom. I can't argue with that, but I have also lived a while and remember seeing the show. Consequently, it is an pop culture allusion for me.
"Mr. Darcy" is a character in Jan Austin's novel "Pride and Prejudice" thus making this a literary allusion. He has come to stand in for all of the desirable qualities a woman seeks in a man. This character has also brought forth a sub genre of literature. Search for "Mr. Darcy" on BarnesandNoble.com and you get 78 different titles based on the guy.
To have found your "Mr. Darcy" implies that you have found a match that will complement you intellectually and emotionally. It does not mean that you have found a hunk that you will look at all day long. It is made quite clear in the novel that Mr. Darcy is not that attractive, and he has an attitude to boot.
So, I don't want you thinking that finding a "Mr. Darcy" is easy. No folks, it takes some effort and frustration.
The last example "the back of the bus" is an obvious, well-- at least to most Americans, reverence to the civil rights movement and how buses were segregated with whites at the front and blacks at the back. This historical allusion calls to mind the small minded, bigoted, racist things that people have done.
As the civil rights movement has changed to address issues of today, so have political cartoons. Sitting at the back of the bus was a physical reminder that blacks were thought of as "not quite" people, and were made to sit in certain places so that the whites were not "contaminated" with black germs.
Today issues like same sex marriage are not protested in a public way on mass. Instead of being obvious about the bigoted actions, people attempt to be more PC. Covert inequality is still inequality, hence the historical allusion to the civil rights movement.
Okay kids. I hope you found today's lesson useful.
Your job is to go forth and say more by saying less-- use some allusions!
Comments
Post a Comment