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Literary Devices
Definition of Allusion
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to other literary works, famous individuals, historical events, or philosophical ideas... read full definition
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to other literary works, famous individuals... read full definition
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to... read full definition
Chapter 25 - In Like a Lion
Explanation and Analysis—David and Goliath:
In Chapter 25, Junior helps his team emerge victorious in their rematch against the Wellpinit basketball team. After the game, an allusion helps Junior make sense of the situational irony surrounding this "victory":
I looked for my dad.
I thought he’d be cheering. But he wasn’t. He wasn’t even looking at me. He was all quiet-faced as he looked at something else.
So I looked at what he was looking at.
It was the Wellpinit Redskins, lined up at their end of the court, as they watched us celebrate our victory.
I whooped.
We had defeated the enemy! We had defeated the champions! We were David who’d thrown a stone into the brain of Goliath!
And then I realized something.
I realized that my team, the Reardan Indians, was Goliath.
This defeat has been a long time coming. In the last match between Reardan and Wellpinit, Junior's former classmates knocked him out and publicly humiliated him, crushing his new team. Ever since, Junior and the reader have been anticipating his chance to reclaim his dignity. It seems as though winning against Rowdy and the rest of the Wellpinit team will prove to everyone that Junior is a good player who has not made a mistake by joining the Reardan team.
At first, Junior does feel vindicated when his team wins. His father's lack of excitement doesn't make sense to him. He compares himself and his team at Reardan to David in the biblical story of David and Goliath. In this story, Goliath is a giant warrior who represents the Philistines. He challenges the Philistines' rivals, the Israelites, to select their own champion to fight him for land rights. The Israelites eventually send a shepherd named David into battle with Goliath. Against all odds, David defeats Goliath with a simple slingshot. Junior imagines that he and his team are David and that they have finally defeated their more formidable opponents. It should be a moment to celebrate.
However, as Junior reflects a little longer on the narrative, he realizes that David and Goliath map onto the two teams in just the opposite way. Junior's humiliation in the earlier game is nothing to the humiliation that has just been wrought on the Wellpinit team. Rowdy and his teammates overwhelmingly live in poverty, while the Reardan team reaps the benefits of the land and wealth that have been stolen from the Spokane people. Most of the Wellpinit players will never go to college or travel far and wide. Basketball might be a ticket off the reservation for one or two of them, but for most it is just the one thing they know their community excels at. It helps them stand tall. Junior has just led his team—a team powered by stolen riches—to knock the Wellpinit team down. Junior is disgusted to realize that his single-minded push to redeem himself for leaving Wellpinit has ironically led him to exactly the kind of betrayal Rowdy has accused him of.
Related Themes:
