August 30 / 31, 2016 – Sentence #1:
“In the year of our Lord 1960 a monkey
barreled through space in an American
rocket; a Kennedy boy took the chair out
from under a fatherly general named Ike;
and the whole world turned on an axis called
the Congo.”
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Allusion #1:
In Medias Res
What I already know about this item:
Background:
Definition/Usage:
September 1/2, 2016 – Sentence #2:
“She procured a good supply of antibiotic drugs
from our granddad Dr. Bud Wharton, who has
senile dementia and loves to walk outdoors
naked but still can do two things perfectly: win
at checkers and write out prescriptions”
(Kingsolver, 1998, p. 14).
Allusion #2: Loaves and Fishes
September 6/7, 2016 – Sentence #3:
“I guess they have a right to sing
them, but here’s the thing; right in
front of our very eyes, some of the
women stood up there in the firelight
with their bosoms naked as a
jaybird’s egg” (Kingsolver, 1998, p.
24).
Allusion #3: Magnum Opus
September 8/9, 2016 – Sentence #4:
[But no one here stays under a roof.]
“It is in the front yards—all the
world’s a stage of hard red dirt
under bare foot—where tired
thin women in every thinkable
state of dress and disrepair poke
sticks into their little fires and
cook” (Kingsolver, 1998, p. 31).
Allusion #4 – Janus
September 12/13, 2016 – Sentence #5:
“The usual bypasser is a woman
sauntering slowly down the road
with bundles balanced on her
head. These women are pillars of
wonder, defying gravity while
wearing the ho-hum aspect of
perfect tedium” (Kingsolver, 1998,
p. 31).
Allusion #5 - A Chip on One’s Shoulder
September 14/15, 2016 – Sentence #6:
“He is reliable in the following
way: if they say he is coming on
Monday, it will be Thursday,
Friday, or not at all”
(Kingsolver, 1998, p. 33).
Allusion #6 – Noble Savage
September 16/19, 2016 – Sentence #7:
“It was to be our first African
miracle: an infinite chain of
benevolence rising from these small,
crackling seed packets, stretching out
from our garden into a circle of other
gardens, flowing outward across the
Congo like ripples from a rock
dropped in a pond” (Kingsolver, 1998, p.
36).
Allusion #7 – Burning Bush
September 20/21, 2016 – Sentence #8:
“The
world looked stepped on
and drenched, but my
sisters ran out squealing
like the first free pigs off
the ark, eager to see what
the flood had left us”
(Kingsolver, 1998, p. 61).
(references to a torrential rain)
Allusion #8 – Narcissus / narcissism
September 22/23, 2016 – Sentence #9:
“My father looked at me
with a new face, strange
and terrifying to me for
what it lacked in
confidence” (Kingsolver, 1998, p.
80).
Allusion #9 - Scheherazade
September 26/27, 2016 – Sentence #10:
“Standing at the work table I
would leave my own thoughts
and watch myself murdering
oranges with our single dull
knife, slitting their bellies and
squeezing out the red blood”
(Kingsolver, 1998, p. 91).
Allusion #10 – Skeleton in the Closet
September 28/29, 2016 – Sentence #11
Malapropism – the unintentional, humorous misuse or distortion
of a word or phrase; especially the use of a word sounding
somewhat like the one intended but ludicrously wrong in the
context
“Nelson says every person in the village
is to be there, required precipitation”
(Kingsolver, 1998, p. 336).
“Naturally Father had his own addenda
for the meeting” (Kingsolver, 1998, p.
337).
Allusion #11
– Fifteen Minutes of Fame
September 30/October 3, 2016 – Sentence #11
Malapropism – the unintentional, humorous misuse or distortion of a
word or phrase; especially the use of a word sounding somewhat like the
one intended but ludicrously wrong in the context
“It is my girlfriends here in Joburg that have
taught me how to give parties, keep a close eye
on the help, and just overall make the graceful
transition to wifehood and adulteration”
(Kingsolver, 1998, p. 405).
“Maybe he’s been in Africa so long he has
forgotten that we Christians have our own
system of marriage, and it is called Monotony”
(Kingsolver, 1998, p. 405).
Allusion #12 – Let the Cat out of the Bag /
Buy a Pig in a Poke
October 4/5, 2016 – Sentence #13
(Any time of day you can hear the parrots chattering in their
cages.)
“I taught them to say ‘Drink up
now! Closing time!’ in English,
French, and Afrikaans, though I
have to admit they’ve picked up a
few depictable phrases from my
guests, over the years”
(Kingsolver, 1998, p. 462).
Allusion #13 – Lot’s Wife / Pillar of Salt
October 4/5, 2016 – Sentence #14
“You make something, seems
like, and spend the rest of your
days toiling so it won’t go all
unraveled. One thing leads to
another, then you’re mired in”
(Kingsolver, 1998, p. 512).
Allusion #14 – Cassandra
October 6/7, 2016 – Sentence #15
“The sins of the fathers
belong to you and to the
forest and even to the ones
in iron bracelets, and here
you stand, remembering
their songs” (Kingsolver, 1998,
p. 543).
Allusion #15 – Catch-22