In this post, I am going
to be talking about allusions!
Why? Well, it's one of my
class assignments, to either write about an element of travel writing I enjoy
or something about figurative language, and so, I went to sporcle (
http://www.sporcle.com/games/kmiz22/lit_terms) to see what other literary terms
I have yet to cover, and allusion caught my eye. Plus, it's interesting!
When I first started off
as a writer, I was really into adding allusions into my stories. In fact, I
added so many, that I made a list of what allusions I integrated into the
story, so that I would remember later on, in case I'd forget. I also had a list
of other elements from my stories, like symbolism and themes, and etc.
And while looking for
that, I found writings from like four plus years ago, and it was ... nostalgic.
Weird. It's a marker on how far I've come as a person and a writer. I was a sad
kid and in a sad position back then.
Very sad.
Anyway, I found this,
about giving God glory through allusions from the bible: "I’ve been
praying that He help me with this from the start, and thanking Him, and giving
glory through allusions." At the time, I was very religious because of a
girl, but that died out throughout the years. I was basically saying that i'd
put tons of bible allusions in the story if God would help me get published.
But, the allusions I picked are ones i really liked, and really did add value
to the story.
One allusion was to
Shakespeare: "Do not be afraid of greatness: Some are born great, some
achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them" (Shakespeare,
Twelfth Night). What I had written for an allusion, was a different version of
it (I was thinking of two different versions, it seems): "Do not be afraid
of loneliness. Some are born sick, some achieve sickness, and some have
sickness thrust upon them." The other version was: "Do not be afraid
of loneliness: Some are are born lonely, some achieve loneliness, or some have
loneliness thrust upon them." Morbid, yes. It's insightful though, and it
sounded cool, I thought.
Another thing I had
written in the outline: "The things he carried, references the story, 'The
Things They Carried', to show the seriousness and importance and meaning of the
situation." This was for the scene where Connor is running away from home,
because he's misunderstood and they don't understand his magical situation, and
he knows he needs to be alone to figure out what's going on. And he packs a
bunch of things to take with him. Once he gathers everything up, I wrote,
"These are the things he carried to be alone," or something of that
nature. But the things he carried were the basics. He really didn't need much,
apart from his self.
In another scene where
the alien king (these are called the Axiomnivol race) fights the
"bad" king and loses, he says, "My God, my God, why have you
forsaken me?" This is an obvious reference to Jesus toward the end of his
life when he's on the cross.
I described the bad
king's eyes as a "black circular pit,” referring to "Pit and the
Pendulum" by Edgar Allen Poe, apparently. I think I was pushing that
allusion a little too much, and it wasn't exactly an allusion.
Stars were symbols in the
story, and one chapter was titled, "How I Wonder What You Are," which
refers to the song, Twinkle Little Star. I wrote: "This allusion increases
the value of the story by wondering what the star is. In my opinion, I hear a
sinister tune when reading the chapter name. The star turns into a black hole.
I really wonder what a star is if it can do that (it is like all of us,
really)." It also referenced guidance, a hero leading the other, because
of the lyrics, "Then the traveler in the dark, thanks you for your tiny
spark; He could not see which way to go, if you did not twinkle so." The
protagonist is able to help others "see which way to go" because of
his twinkle. Also, they all have magical colored auras in the story, so they
actually can shine like stars.
I even alluded to The
Last Supper, which I completely forgot (It did not make the second draft). I
wrote in my outline: "Frustawryvol and Connor and Decidvol and friends
eating at the table in the end are a sly allusion to The Last Supper. It also
refers to the betrayer, is Euvol or Libensvol the betrayer? 13 are here like at
the last supper, including Decidvol, or excluding him and putting Libensvol in
place. Though Frustawryvol has The Gift, Libensvol does not care, he does not
care how close he is to their god, and orders him to be killed." I believe
there were 13 seated at The Last Supper, and oddly enough, I had the same
number of characters at the table.
In another instance, I
alluded to Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" story, writing,
"I refer to the black hole, 'The black hole looks like it is beating,
light glistening around it and trying to escape, but its being pulled back in,
into a heart of immense and utter darkness.'" And the words used in the
actual story being alluded to were "seemed to lead into the heart of an
immense darkness." I wrote: "This allusion increases the value of the
story by using the symbol from heart of darkness, saying that blackhole DOES
come from the heart, and evil originated from human nature." I thought it
was a cool allusion. The evil king in the story created a black hole (made to
try to kill everyone). I can't remember if that made the cut for the second
draft, and if i was saving it for later in the series.
Again, I referred to The
Bible, and more specifically, about light and darkness and how they relate to
the eyes and one's body. I wrote, "When Sageuvol goes into flashback he
starts off with this: 'Anheloneedvol’s eyes, they were pure black. I still cannot
understand why his body still could expel light…' The reference is this: “The eye is the lamp
of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But
if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the
light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” The evil king
Anheloneedvol's eyes are full of darkness, but his body is still able to expel
light, a bright suioris (or aura). I also wrote in the outline, "Connor’s
eye lights up when seeing Ailey [the girl he likes], this also alludes to his
light." The fact this his truly lit up, and no one else's, was meant to
show that he's the one with the most pure light.
It seems these allusions
actually helped past Kevin write some of the story, as they gave new aspects to
it.
In a scene where Connor
is in a lush, beautiful forest (not unlike The Garden of Eden), a snake appears
and (as I wrote in the outline) leads Connor to an apple tree because Decidvol
(the supernatural presence of magic [or arsenergia] inside of him) suggests
that they follow the snake. When Connor takes a bite of the apple tree, he
finds that it is dry and inedible. It led Connor away from his water source,
and he's unable to find it again. Then, it starts to rain, and the whole forest
eventually becomes flooded, alluding to the flood in the bible. Instead of two
of every animal, it's just Connor and Decidvol trying to escape (though
Decidvol is inside Connor as arsenergia, so he counts as only one,
technically), by learning to fly. And as they fly over the forest, they see a
lone wolf running away (again, one [animal] instead of two).
One more? I rewrote a
reference to the line in the bible and a reference to Lincoln's speech, "A
body divided cannot stand," into, "a body divided cannot stand, but
sometimes a body needs to be divided so that it can stand properly." When
the two protagonists, Connor and Decidvol, are divided in what they have to do,
they are actually more unified afterward as a result.
Anyway, allusions are
pretty cool. And it's even cooler to morph them a bit, edit the lines and make
them your own, or edit them so that they mean something else, to fit your
purpose. But don't go too crazy with them like past Kevin did. Keep in mind I
wrote that outline and story about three years ago, so I know I could write
that all better as of today.
And to finish, I think
this blog post alludes to the past Kevin and his writings, just to show how far
he has come into the present.
Not sure why, but these
lyrics have come to mind: (Yes, I'm not alluding to the lyrics' original
intent, the civil rights movement, but i'm simply alluding to the song, and
reading the lyrics literally in this context.)
"We've come a long
long way together,
Through the hard times
and the good,
I have to celebrate you
baby,
I have to praise you like
I should."
"I've come a long
long way together,
Through the hard times
and the good,
I have to celebrate me
baby,
I have to praise me like
I should."
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