Previous
Alliteration
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
Allusions
Explanation and Analysis—A Better World:
In Chapter 20, the final chapter in the memoir, Richard describes marching with a parade alongside his fellow union writers in Chicago in a communist demonstration, making an allusion to the "Internationale" anthem in the process.
This scene represents the culmination of Richard's intellectual development over the novel. Here, at last, he realizes "An objectivity of vision was being born in me"; in other words, he has learned enough about the world to finally understand it as it truly is. Specifically, he has decided to abandon the Communist Party for their lack of action on racial issues.
As he marches, he hears the "Internationale," the anthem of workers' parties across the world. The song's lyrics, originally in French, were first written in 1871 by Eugène Pottier, an anarchist, and the melody was written in 1888 by Pierre de Geyter, a Marxist. Wright quotes multiple lines (translated into English as he hears them), intertwined with his narration of his own thoughts. Richard hears the opening lines of the anthem: "Arise, you pris'ners of starvation! / Arise, you wretched of the earth ... / For justice thunders condemnation ... / A better world's in birth." These lines extol the virtues of the working class—the "wretched of the earth"—and describe how they will rise up against bourgeois control.
As the anthem of the party goes on around him, Richard denounces the simple answers of communism: "I knew in my heart that I would never be able to write that way again, would never be able to feel with that simple sharpness about life, would never again express such passionate hope, would never again make so total a commitment of faith." Richard thinks about his own life and realizes that he has only come to this point through repeated suffering and failings, which the communists will have to do as well. The allusions to the "Internationale" help to make a more realistic scene, but they also animate the reasoning: as the people around him sing that a "better world's in birth," Richard imagines, in response, how a better world will take more work and suffering than the communists expect.
Related Themes:
