Target Goal: I can evaluate an author’s purpose behind a specific literary allusion.
“Jim and Will Loomis had a spider on a piece of thread. They were letting it crawl back and forth on its leash, giggling like idiots. Bug taming was a Loomis specialty. First, Jim would pull a piece of thread from his shirt hem and painstakingly fashion it into a tiny noose. Then Will would snatch up a spider or a fly when Miss Wilcox’s back was turned. He was quicker than Renfield in Bram Stoker’s Dracula, though mercifully, he did not eat what he caught. He would hold his victim in cupped hands and shake it until it was stunned” (Donnelly 58).
Background: In the literary work Dracula by Bram Stoker, Renfield is an inmate at the lunatic asylum overseen by Dr. John Seward. He suffers from delusions which compel him to eat living creatures in the hope of obtaining their life-force for himself.
What is the purpose of this literary allusion? What is the author trying to convey?
“I did not think the Good Book was all that good. There was too much begetting, too much smoting. Not much of a plot, either. Some of the stories were all right—like Moses parting the Red Sea, and Job, and Noah and his ark—but whoever wrote them down could have done a lot more with them. I would like to have known, for example, what Mrs. Job thought about God destroying her entire family over a stupid bet. Or how Mrs. Noah felt to have her children safe on the ark with her while she watched everyone else’s children drown. Or how Mary stood it when the Romans drove nails straight through her boy’s hands” (Donnelly 108).
Background :
There was an extremely pious man named Job. He was very prosperous, and had seven sons and three daughters. Constantly fearing that his sons may have sinned and "cursed God in their hearts", he habitually offered burnt offerings as a pardon for their sins.The "sons of God" and Satan (literally "the adversary") present themselves to God. God asks Satan his opinion on Job, apparently a truly pious man. Satan answers that Job is pious only because God put a "wall around" him and "blessed" his favorite servant with prosperity. But if God touches "his possessions", then Job would curse him. God gives Satan permission to test Job's righteousness. All of Job's possessions are destroyed and a wind causes the house of Job’s oldest son to collapse killing all of Job’s family except his wife.
God chose a man named Noah and "counted it righteous to him" to live and also to preserve his creation mankind through Noah's family. God then proceeds to give Noah detailed instructions how to build a seaworthy ark. When Noah and the animals are safe on board, God sends the Flood, which rises until all the mountains are covered and all life on Earth is destroyed.
Mary is Jesus’ mother who witnessed the crucifixion of her son on a cross.
What is the purpose of this literary allusion? What is the author trying to convey about women in society?
“Aunt Josie, can you…would you…I want to go to college, Aunt Josie. If you were going to give me money for china and silver, would you give it to me for books and train fare instead? I’ve been accepted. To Barnard College. In New York City…I want to study literature, but I haven’t the money to go and Pa won’t let me work at the Glenmore like I want to, and I thought that maybe if you…if Uncle Vernon…’ Everything changed as I spoke. Aunt Josie’s smile slid off her face like ice off a tin roof…My aunt didn’t reply right away; she just looked at me in such a way that I suddenly knew just how Hester Prynne felt when she had to stand on the scaffold” (Donnelly 113).
Background: Hester Prynne, the young protagonist of Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet Letter, is a woman condemned by her Puritan neighbors. Hester is forced to stand on a stage for hours in front of the townspeople as punishment for having an affair. Public humiliation was viewed as one of the greatest and most severe punishments in the Puritan culture. Schools would be closed and people would be excused from their jobs in order to witness these public humiliations.
What is the purpose of this literary allusion? What is the author trying to convey?
“I used to wonder what would happen if characters in books could change their fates? What if the 1Dashwood sisters had money? Maybe Elinor would have gone traveling and left Mr. Ferrars dithering in the drawing room. What if 2Catherine Earnshaw had just married Heathcliff to begin with and spared everyone a lot of grief? What if Hester Prynne and Dimmesdale had gotten onboard that ship and left Roger Chillingworth far behind. I felt sorry for these characters sometimes, seeing as they couldn’t ever break out of their stories, but then again, if they could have talked to me, they’d likely have told me to stuff all my pity and condescension, for neither could I” (Donnelly 84).
Background:
1Sense and Sensibility is a novel by the English novelist Jane Austen. Published in 1811. The story is about Elinor and Marianne, two daughters of Mr Dashwood by his second wife. They have a younger sister, Margaret, and an older half-brother named John. When their father dies, the family estate passes to John, and the Dashwood women are left in reduced circumstances. The novel follows the Dashwood sisters to their new home, a cottage on a distant relative's property, where they experience both romance and heartbreak. The contrast between the sisters' characters is eventually resolved as they each find love and lasting happiness. Through the events in the novel, Elinor and Marianne encounter the sense and sensibility of life and love.
2 Wuthering Heights is the only novel by Emily Brontë. It was first published in 1847. The narrative tells the tale of the all-encompassing and passionate, yet thwarted, love between Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw, and how this unresolved passion eventually destroys them and many around them. Whilst residing in her ancestral home Wuthering Heights, Catherine forms a deep romantic bond with foster brother Heathcliff, one that leads them both into misery, violence and despair.
The Scarlet Letter is a novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne. In the plot, the two characters of Hester and Dimmesdale plan on running away together on a boat to escape Hester’s husband Chillingworth. However, they never make it to the boat and their future is destroyed.
What is the purpose of these literary allusions? What is the author trying to convey about fate? How does this compare to Mattie’s life?