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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
Volume 1, Book 1: A Just Man
Explanation and Analysis—Formidable Abysses:
The story sets up the moral compass and values of the Bishop with allusions to philosophers and poets. Though these historical figures pose formidable and unanswerable questions, the Bishop closes his mind to such vast reflections:
Thus he shut himself up, he lived there, he was absolutely satisfied with it, leaving on one side the prodigious questions that attract and terrify, the fathomless perspectives of abstraction, […] formidable abysses, which Lucretius, Manou, Saint Paul, Dante, contemplate with eyes flashing lightning, which seems by its steady gaze on the infinite to cause stars to blaze forth there.
The Bishop refrains from dealing with “prodigious questions that attract and terrify” because he is satisfied believing in God and helping the miserable, like Jean Valjean. He feels there is no use contemplating the questions of philosophical poets like Lucretius (the ancient Roman thinker and poet), Manu (the first man in Hinduism), Saint Paul (the Christian apostle who spread Jesus's teachings), and Dante Alighieri (the medieval Italian poet). Courting these questions and abstractions—these reflections of the infinite—distracts from the true meaning of goodness in religion. These allusions give context to the magnificence of religion, the depth of questions that plague such belief systems, while simultaneously disputing the necessity of such magnificence. By ignoring these enormous questions and philosophers, the Bishop suggests that goodness is entirely separate from theology or contemplative devotion.
Volume 1, Book 3: In the Year 1817
Explanation and Analysis—A Casus Belli:
When Tholomyes has a little too much to drink at a public house, he begins to orate at the party about the frivolity of women. Tholomyes uses hyperboles and allusions to bolster his point about women:
In love there are no friends. Everywhere where there is a pretty woman hostility is open. No quarter, war to the death! A pretty woman is a casus belli; a pretty woman is flagrant misdemeanor. All the invasions of history have been determined by petticoats. Woman is man’s right. Romulus carried off the Sabines; William carried off the Saxon women; Caesar carried off the Roman women. The man who is not loved soars like a vulture over the mistresses of other men; and for my own part, to all those unfortunate men who are widowers, I throw the sublime proclamation of Bonaparte to the army of Italy: ‘Soldiers, you are in need of everything; the enemy has it.’
Tholomyes maintains a very cavalier attitude towards women, for whom he shows little respect and care. His attitude is especially evident in how he manipulates Fantine and takes advantage of her naivety. In his oration, he says that “all the invasions of history have been determined by petticoats,” hyperbolizing the effect of women in men’s prideful pursuits of war. Tholomyes condemns women for their beauty, explaining that it triggers hostility and ultimately causes invasions. This point is the ultimate demonstration of disrespect towards women, as he blames them for the greed of men.
Tholomyes even uses allusions to some of the most notorious invasions in history: Romulus carried out the abduction of many Sabine women not long after the founding of Rome, William the Conqueror's overtook England in the 11th century, and Julius Caesar invaded Britain during the Gallic Wars. Tholomyes uses these incidents to explain the triggering effect of women on men. According to Tholomyes, women should be reproached for their existence, for it unfailingly leads to war.
Related Themes:
Volume 5, Book 1: The War Between Four Walls
Explanation and Analysis—Don Quixote and Leonidas:
Though the narrator admits that peace is preferable to war, they do commend revolutionaries for their commitment to the cause in the face of death. With allusions to classical Spanish literature and Greek history, the narrator praises the revolutionaries:
We may succeed. We are few in number, we have a whole army arrayed against us; but we are defending right, the natural law, the sovereignty of each one over himself from which no abdication is possible, justice and truth, and in case of need, we die like the three hundred Spartans. We do not think of Don Quixote but of Leonidas. And we march straight before us, and once pledged, we do not draw back, and we rush onward with head held low, cherishing as our hope an unprecedented victory, revolution completed, progress set free again, the aggrandizement of the human race, universal deliverance.
In this passage, the narrator alludes to two famous tales: Don Quixote, the Spanish hero, and Leonidas, the Spartan king. Whereas Don Quixote was a self-proclaimed knight ruled by spontaneity and delusions, Leonidas was a fearless ruler who looked defeat in the eyes and marched forward with resolve. The revolutionaries of Paris, particularly Marius, the Friends of the ABC, and Gavroche, are much like Leonidas in this way, rushing forward into battle. They face overwhelming odds of defeat and yet fight for victory, no matter the odds or outcome. Unfortunately, the insurrection is squashed just the same. Though the rebels are outnumbered, they fight to the last man.
Related Themes:
