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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—Music:
Music is utilized as a means of survival, protest, expression, and community in Beloved. This motif often shows up in the form of allusions. For example, Paul D's work song that he sings as he fixes up 124 is an adaptation of a real railroad work song called "Sis Joe." The allusion reminds the reader that suffering like that in the novel reflects the reality of slavery. Furthermore, the song's beat aligns with the beat of Paul D's hammering, highlighting how songs were used to survive harsh working conditions.
Music is also shown as a survival response in the case of Sixo's final song as he is killed by Schoolteacher. Sixo uses singing to show Schoolteacher that his violence can't control Sixo. Sixo asserts his humanity by turning to words and music in the face of the Schoolmaster's animalistic violence. The novel doesn't record the words to Sixo's song. However, the reader can assume that like other songs in the novel, the words were "garbled" and "tricked" to hide their meaning from Schoolteacher and the other white men. Through song, Sixo and other enslaved people repurpose the language enforced and inflicted by white people to express themselves freely.
Music also builds community, such as when the women of Cincinnati banish Beloved from 124 by joining in song. Before Beloved's death, the community would gather in the Clearing to sing with Baby Suggs, so this return to song demonstrates that the community has healed the divide between them and the residents of 124. Music is likewise shown as a way to bridge the racial divide between white and black communities. The novel converts the poem "Lady Button Eyes" by Eugene Field into a song Amy learned from her mother and then sings for the pregnant Sethe. Although the song is rooted in white cultural tradition, it bridges the racial divide between Amy and Sethe through a shared recognition of the mother-child bond.
Related Themes:
Part 1, Chapter 15
Explanation and Analysis—Bible:
Beloved is wrought with biblical allusions, which begin as early as the epigraph. These allusions elevate the text to become universal in its meaning, like the Bible. The novel uses this broader significance and the familiarity of many readers with the Bible to two effects.
First, allusive comparisons allow the novel to portray its characters effectively. In Chapter 15, Beloved compares Baby Suggs to Jesus by alluding to a Biblical story where Jesus performs a miracle to feed a large crowd with only five loaves of bread and two fish.
Baby Suggs’ three (maybe four) pies grew to ten (maybe twelve). Sethe’s two hens became five turkeys. The one block of ice brought all the way from Cincinnati—over which they poured mashed watermelon mixed with sugar and mint to make a punch—became a wagonload of ice cakes for a washtub full of strawberry shrug. 124, rocking with laughter, goodwill and food for ninety, made them angry.
Like Jesus, Baby Suggs provides for her community by creating abundance where there was once little. By comparing Baby Suggs to Jesus, the novel simultaneously establishes the goodness of Baby Suggs and her power as a community leader. The comparison also challenges the idea that power only belongs to certain people, like white men, by having an older ex-enslaved Black woman act as a metaphorical Jesus.
Second, allusions demonstrate how Black people claimed Christianity as their own and used religion to understand and approach their daily lives, despite how white people used Christianity to harm them. The dedication and epigraph establish this concept by reframing the context of a biblical quote to become a memorial for enslaved people who died:
Sixty Million
and more
I will call them my people,
which were not my people;
and her beloved,
which was not beloved.
ROMANS 9: 25
In its biblical context, the quote is about God having a plan and love for both Jewish and non-Jewish people. However, Beloved alters the quote's meaning by prefacing it with “Sixty million and more.” This number is an estimate of the number of people who died due to slavery. Within this new context, the quote becomes a declaration of love and a call for community, especially in the face of the continued effects of slavery. By reclaiming the Bible as a story applicable to the experiences of Black people, the novel demonstrates one way of healing from the trauma caused by white people who used the Bible to justify slavery. The harmful potential of Christianity within the context of slavery is emphasized by how Sethe's mother was branded with a cross.
Related Themes:
