Sunday, June 11, 2017

What are some examples of allusions in the book Fahrenheit 451? Can you give me page numbers? Allusions are very hard for me to find, and I need them...

Anis a casual
reference to something that should be well-known by the reader.  It is generally meant
to support an explanation, to give an example. An allusion can be about the Bible, history,
mythology, or literature.  Bradbury uses all of these in his book. 

Some
historical allusions are:

1. When the woman
comes out of her house and says,

"Play the man,
Master Ridley: we shall this day light such a candle by God's grace, in England, as I trust
shall never be put out." (pg 36)

Later, on page 40,
Beatty explains to Montag that those words  were spoken by a man named Latimer to Nicholas
Ridley as they were being burnt alive at Oxford for heresy on October 16, 1555. The woman said
it just before she ignited and killed herself in the flames.

2. Another
historical allusion is 

"....when Mildred ran from
the parlor like a native fleeing an eruption of Vesuvius" (pg 93)


Vesuvius was a famous volcano that erupted in AD79 destroying the
city of Pompeii and all of its residents. 

Another kind of allusion in the
book is the literary allusion.  Many of these are done when Beatty
is speaking. 

1. One such allusion is


"Colored people don't like Little Black Sambo.  Burn it. 
White people don't feel good about Uncle Tom's Cabin. Burn it." (pg
59)

These are allusions to two famous books. 
Little Black Sambo was criticized for racism toward black children.
Uncle Tom's Cabin is an antislavery book written by Harriet Beecher Stowe
that would upset white people.

2. Another literary allusion is,


"Montag stopped eating.  ..., he saw their Cheshire cat smiles
burning through the walls of the house...." (pg 93)


This is an allusion to the Cheshire cat character in Alice in
Wonderland.

3. On pages 105-106 in my copy of the book, Beatty
recites quotes from Sir Philip Sydney and Alexander Pope, both famous poets.  He uses their
quotes to make a point to Montag that a person can find support for both sides of an argument in
literature.

Another kind of allusion or casual reference in the book is
concerning the Bible.

1.  When Montag is on the
train on his way to visit Faber, he tries to memorize portions of the Bible but is interrupted
by the advertisement blaring in the train. Montag thinks,


"Shut up, thought Montag.  Consider the lilies of the field." (pg
78)

This is an allusion to the Sermon on the Mount when
Jesus told the people not to worry about their worldly goods.

2. Another
Biblical allusion is at the end of the book when Montag recites Revelation 22:2


"And on either side of the river was there a tree of
life, which bare twelve manner of fruites and yielded her fruit every month; And the leaves of
the tree were for the healing of the nations."
(pg 165)


He decides he will share this with the men when they reach the
city.

Another kind of allusion Bradbury uses is mythological
allusions
.  These reference famous stories of the Greek and Roman
myths.

1. When Faber is talking with Montag he says,


"Do you know the legend of Hercules and Aneaeus, the giant
wrestler, whose strength was incredible so long as he stood firmly on the earth?  But when he
was held, rootless, in midair by Hercules, he perished easily." (pg 83)


2. There is the famous reference to the phoenix, the bird that
burned himself every few hundred years but

"....every
time he burnt himself up he sprang out of the ashes, he got himself born all over again."
(pg 163)

The phoenix was a symbol on his
fireman's shirt.

No comments:

Post a Comment

How is Joe McCarthy related to the play The Crucible?

When we read its important to know about Senator Joseph McCarthy. Even though he is not a character in the play, his role in histor...