Adam and Eve

"I read and re-read the letter, and some softened feelings stole into my heart, and dared to whisper paradisiacal dreams of love and joy, but the apple was already eaten, and the angel's arm bared to drive me from all hope."  (Frankenstein p. 139)

After Victor receives a letter from Elizabeth, he feels conflicting emotions.  On one hand, Elizabeth is his best friend whom he loves.  He wishes to marry her and live a long and prosperous life with her; however, Victor knows deep in his heart that this can never be so.  In the excerpt, Shelly uses an allusion referring to the Bible to describe Victor's fate.  Victor says that "the apple was already eaten," meaning that his dream of living with Elizabeth was ruined by the creature's threat of destroying his life.  This image refers to the creation of Adam and Eve, and Eve eating from the forbidden tree.  This action sealed the fate of humanity, just as Victor's creation sealed his own fate of misery and despair.  Victor believes that the creature is going to kill him on his wedding night; however, the creature has other plans of murdering his wife.  Instead of focusing on protecting his wife, Victor prepares to defend himself.  Ultimately, this egotistic attitude leads to Victor's downfall.  Victor isn't necessarily totally self-centered; he does feel despair when thinking about Elizabeth's reaction to her newly-made husband's death.  But in reality, if Victor hadn't gone into solitude after creating the creature, he probably could have prevented the death of his entire body of loved ones. 

Meville

"For a few moments I was turned into a pillar of salt standing at the head of my seated column of clerks." (Bartleby the Scrivener - p. 650 ¶ 32)


In this quote "a pillar of salt" is an allusion to the chapter of Genesis in the Bible.  In this story in the Bible, Lot is told to flee his city in order to avoid God's punishment on the citizens of the town.  He tells Lot and his family to not look back; however, Lot's wife lags behind as if she is longing for her hometown.  Consequently, Lot's wife turns into a pillar of salt.  Just as Lot's wife disobeys, Bartleby disobeys the narrator.  Honestly, Bartleby "prefers not to do" anything.  


I think the pillar of salt allusion shows that the narrator is beginning to lose his patience with Bartleby.  Even though Bartleby never showed any anger or aggression, he still annoys the narrator.  After the narrator says this, he questions Bartleby wondering why he refuses to do everything.  I personally believe it is because the narrator allows it; instead of firing Bartleby, he still asks him to do his work.  I honestly think that Bartleby just keeps the work world interesting for the narrator.  Personally, I would get tired of the refusals, but whatever floats your boat.

Pearls Before Swine

“…the Savage looked at him over the top of his book and then, as the laughter still continued, closed it indignantly, got up and, with the gesture of one who removes his pearl from before swine, locked it away in its drawer.”  Brave New World (p. 185)

Even though I have attended a Catholic school since I was in kindergarten, I still had to look up what “pearls before swine” was referring to.  Sad, but true. 

After ChaCha-ing the answer, the allusion came back to me (again thanks to Mrs. Sander and my last minute studying for those Moodle allusion tests).  Jesus used the allusion when telling the disciples to go out and spread his message.  He told them not to share his message with people who just didn’t want to listen. 

 In the context in the above excerpt, John is hiding his beloved book of poems from Bernard and Helmholtz.  Both men laugh at the classic love story; they cannot believe the amount of love and commitment that existed in the old world.  Bernard and Helmholtz act as “swine” who only care for pleasure, enjoyment, and order in life.  I thought this allusion was especially ironic because in the New World, the Bible is on the list of forbidden books.  Obviously, the author places this allusion strategically in the novel to show how ridiculous a world of technology could become.

On another note, I have been extremely confused how people refer to John as “the Savage” and occasionally, “Mr. Savage.”  Notice how “savage” is capitalized.  If no person in the New World respects John, why would “savage” be capitalized?  And plus, savage is an extremely general term.  What would they call Linda if she was around?  The Savage 2?  Really original.