When authors refer to other great works, people, and events, it’s usually not accidental. Put on your super-sleuth hat and figure out why.
Many of the people in Mattapoisett are named for famous historical figures. The figures chosen are meant to tell you about whom the future honors. In a couple of places, people are mentioned who don't seem to be famous; they may be meant to refer to individuals who are in Connie's future but the future's past—that is, the future references them but the present hasn't gotten to them yet.
Literary and Philosophical References
- Achilles (9.192) — Ancient Greek warrior.
- Sholem Aleichem (7.138) —Penname of Solomon Naumovich Rabinovich, a Ukrainian Jewish author.
- Apollo (6.120)
- Artemis (6.119-120)
- Lord Byron (6.124) — British poet.
- Diana (6.119-120) — Roman goddess of the hunt and the moon.
- Mary Magdalene (7.80)
- National Enquirer (2.119)
- New Yorker (18.182)
- New York Times (16.18)
- Patroclus (9.192) — Ancient Greek warrior, Achilles's lover.
- Sappho (7.48, first mention) — Greek lesbian poet.
- William Shakespeare, Macbeth (4.25) — "When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning, or in rain?" (Act 1, Scene 1, lines 1-2); the line is altered slightly in the book to "When shall we two meet again?"
- William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet (18.87)
- Time Magazine (9.5, first reference)
- Vogue (18.182)
- Whore of Babylon (6.18)
- Virgin Mary (5. 13)
Historical References
- Susan B. Anthony (6.117) — Feminist leader.
- Arlington Mills, Battle of (11.110) — One of the first battles of the Civil War. The reference here seems to be to a future battle that has the same name.
- Johann Sebastian Bach (7.53)
- Ludwig von Beethoven, "Grosse Fugue" (9.239)
- Simón Bolivar (6.131, first reference) — A leader of South American independence.
- Cesar Chavez (18.14) — An American farm worker, labor leader, and civil rights activist.
- Christopher Columbus (9.103)
- Crazy Horse (16.50) — A leader of the Oglala Sioux Indians.
- Adelle Davis (2.158) — An author and nutritionist
- Dupont (15.113) — A famously wealthy and influential family.
- Fort Bragg (11.110) — A major U.S. Army installation in North Carolina.
- Sigmund Freud (7.138)
- Ishi (9.156) — Last of the Yahi Indian people.
- Joan of Arc (6.29)
- Kennedys (10.90) — John Kennedy was the President of the United States from 1960-1963; Robert Kennedy, his brother, was Attorney General.
- Rosa Luxembourg (7.138) — A Marxist theorist and activist.
- Manhattan Project (2.159) — The group of scientists who developed the atomic bomb.
- Karl Marx (7.138)
- Mellon (15.113) — A famously wealthy and influential family.
- Pentagon (9.97)
- Pisa, Leaning Tower of (15.7)
- Potomac (9.97) — A river in Washington, D.C.
- Wilhelm Reich (7.138) — A psychoanalyst.
- Rockefellers (15.113) — A famously wealthy and influential family.
- Sacco-Vanzetti (5.65) — Nicola Sacco and Bartolemeo Vanzetti were Italian-born anarchists convicted of murder during an armed robbery; the conviction was controversial and has been attributed to anti-Italian prejudice.
- Seneca Falls Convention (9.97) — The first women's rights convention.
- Spanish Inquisition (18.13)
- War on Poverty (8.155, 10.271) — An initiative during the administration of U.S. President Lyndon Johnson, intended to eradicate poverty.
- William Tecumseh Sherman (9.156) — A Union general in the Civil War.
- Isaac Bashevis Singer (7.138) — Polish-born Jewish-American author.
- Tecumseh (9.107, first reference) — A Shawnee Indian leader.
- Thirty Years' War (11.177) — A Central European war in the 1600s.
- Leon Trotsky (7.138) — Russian Communist leader.
- Selma, Alabama (12.116, first reference) — The site of a white supremacist bombing that killed four black girls in 1963.
- Sojourner Truth (3.152, first reference); "Ain't I a Woman speech" (9.97) — An abolitionist and campaigner for women's rights.
- Mao Tse-Tung (6.117) — Chinese Communist leader.
- Harriet Tubman (9.97, first reference) — Abolitionist who raided the South to free many slaves.
- Washoe (5.35) — The first chimpanzee to communicate using sign language.
- August von Wassermann (7.138) — A German bacteriologist.
Pop Culture References
- Coney Island (5.62) — A New York amusement park.
- Walter Cronkite (2.107) — A television news anchor.
- Bette Davis (11.160) — American actress.
- Harley-Davidson motorcycle (4.72)
- Ronnettes, "Be My Baby" (11.106) — Connie is stringing together a bunch of stereotypical song lyrics; this song seems to be the main point of reference, though.
- Three Kings Day (5.96)
- Marcus Welby, M.D. (18.6) — A 1970s television program.
- Wonder Bread (4.77)