Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

What is an allusion? How do authors use allusions to help readers learn more about the characters and settings in their novels?

Teaching Suggestion: Eleanor & Park includes dozens of references to titles of books, poems, songs, films, and other works, along with the names of performers, actors, and a few briefly mentioned historical figures. After reviewing the definition for allusion, readers might work in pairs to list 2-3 allusions they have recently encountered in literature or TV. They might, for example, consider film or novel characters named for historical or mythological figures. In sharing their examples, students should explain the deeper meaning of the reference with regard to the plot or characterization. Once students begin Eleanor & Park, they might compile a class list of allusions as they read and discuss the significance of select allusions to the story.

• This 1-minute video, “What Is Allusion?,” briefly reviews the definition of this literary device.
• This resource page on allusion covers this device’s potential types and functions in literature and offers a variety of examples from fiction and poetry.