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Literary Devices
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
Chapter 5
Explanation and Analysis—The Bible:
The Handmaid's Tale is a dystopian envisioning of America's future as a theocratic, Christian nationalist state. As such, the novel teems with allusions to the Christian Bible.
Two key examples feature in Chapter 5. Whilst Offred and Ofglen shop together, they encounter two stores named for important Bible passages:
The [dress] store has a huge wooden sign outside it, in the shape of a golden lily; Lilies of the Field, it's called.
Our first stop is at a store with another wooden sign: three eggs, a bee, a cow. Milk and Honey.
These two store names reference two separate passages from the Christian Bible: Matthew 6:28-29 and Exodus 3:8, respectively. The former quotes Jesus as he teaches his disciples: "So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." Appropriately, "Lilies of the Field" is a clothing store that services Handmaids.
The second passage, Exodus 3:8, records God's promise to bring the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt and "into a land flowing with milk and honey." This passage is intended as a reminder that God will provide—a message that, in the context of this store in Gilead, is likely an implicit warning to citizens against complaining about food rationing.
Related Themes:
