Allegory & Allusion Mrs. Groomer English I

Allusion a figure of speech that makes a reference to people, places, events, or other things either directly or by implication a reference to or mention of something meant to be understood by the reader, listener, or viewer

Allusion Volkswagen Beetle Fahrenheit 451 Allusion Volkswagen Beetle

Allusion Number One Volkswagen Beetle “The keys to the beetle are on the night table…Go take the beetle.” (61)

Historical Background First sold in 1938 by a German company called Volkswagen. In 1933, Adolf Hitler gave orders to a man named Ferdinand Porsche to create a car that would hold two adults and three children, and travel up to a speed of 100 mph. The cars were created to be as simple as possible, so there would be less to go wrong. They were designed to help the typical European family.

Connections to Fahrenheit 451 Beetles were made simple. The society in Fahrenheit 451 was an extremely simple environment that contained very dull people. No one thought much about anything, and they didn't take chances. They were all just boring people who did the same thing every single day. The citizens that lived in this society were basically forced to be simple just like the Volkswagen Beetle.

Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” Allusion Number Two Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” “Maybe the books can get us half out of the cave.” (70)

Allegory A literary device in which characters or events represent or symbolize ideas and concepts The symbolization can usually be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one

Allegory of the Cave Plato describes a group of people who have lived chained to the wall of a cave all of their lives, facing a blank wall. The people watch shadows projected on the wall by things passing in front of a fire behind them, and begin to attribute forms to these shadows. According to Plato, the shadows are as close as the prisoners get to viewing reality. He then explains how a prisoner who is freed from the cave comes to understand that the shadows on the wall are not representative of reality at all, as he can recognize the true form of reality rather than the mere shadows seen on the cave wall.

Plato’s Allegory of the Cave

What does Plato mean by all this? Plato's main concept of the cave is that people view reality by what they can actually see when it is really more than that. With a fire behind them, the prisoners can only see shadows of images, therefore they believe this to be reality. However, if one of the prisoners was to climb out of the cave, he would begin to see the true image and not just the shadow of the image. Then, if this prisoner was to go back to the cave, he would find that it would be impossible to conform back to his old world. And, if the returning prisoner were to tell the other prisoners about the light and that their shadows were not real images, they would not believe him and would accuse him of trying to disrupt their way of life.

Your Assignment Watch the video “The Allegory of the Cave.” Complete Allusion and Allegory Worksheet Add “allusion” to your Anchor Text Theme Tracker and complete the “text evidence” and “meaning in the text.” Answer questions 1-3 on Split Page Notes