“Use Your Allusion” Literary Allusion in Cartoons Literary Allusion in Cartoons

Moby Dick by Herman Melville Novel published in 1851 the story of a sailor named Captain Ahab who dedicates his ship and crew to destroying Moby Dick, a white sperm whale, because he sees this whale as the living embodiment of all that is evil and malignant in the universe. Ahab’s obsession with the whale costs him EVERYTHING (I don’t want to spoil the ending, but it DOES NOT end well for Ahab!) Now let’s examine the cartoon… Note: I had a song on this slide, but it took WAY to long to upload it that way. “Bad Obsession” by Guns N’ Roses

Moby Dick by Herman Melville The whale is sitting in a bar, looking depressed and drinking The bartender is asking if the whale wants another “Ahab” If you look closely at the glass on the bar, you will see a tiny harpoon, which is a weapon sailors use to kill whales In your opinion, why does the cartoonist use this image? Do you think maybe the whale is being haunted by Ahab in the same way that Ahab was haunted by the whale?

Book Reports Due Friday Another Allusion to Moby Dick… In this cartoon, the boy has made a bad grade on his book report. Why? Do you know who Gregory Peck is? Why would this be a “tip off” for the teacher?

A picture of the novel A picture of the author

This is the type of information you can put on your own poster. A copy of your cartoonA copy of your cartoon The title of the original literary workThe title of the original literary work The name of the authorThe name of the author The year it was publishedThe year it was published A brief explanation of the allusion pointing out specific examplesA brief explanation of the allusion pointing out specific examples A picture depicting the literary workA picture depicting the literary work A picture of the authorA picture of the author

For the Record… The title of this lesson is, itself, an allusion. I named it after an album by Guns N’ Roses that was popular when I was in high school. The album was called Use Your Illusion, however. The song “Bad Obsession” comes from this album and I use it to refer to Captain Ahab’s fatal obsession with the whale.