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Difficulty: Very hardLiterary Allusions and Their Functions

Read the following passage carefully before choosing your answer.

The townspeople spoke of Julian’s sudden rise as though he had merely stumbled upon a vein of gold in his garden, neglecting the silent, meticulous scaffolding of his impending ruin. He walked among them with the heavy, measured step of a man carrying an invisible ledger, his eyes fixed on some distant horizon only he could see. When his sister Clare cautioned him against his latest speculative venture, warning that his foundations were built on sand, Julian smiled a dry, bloodless smile. 'Let the waves beat,' he remarked, pointing toward the newly constructed granite façade of his banking house. 'I have not built on sand, Clare. I have made my covenant with the deep, and like Canute, I have merely commanded the tide to respect its boundaries.' He did not see that the water was already licking at the lowermost steps, or that the tide, indifferent to the crowns of kings and the treaties of men, was rising still.

The narrator’s inclusion of Julian’s allusion to Canute primarily serves to do which of the following?

  1. A
    suggest that Julian’s sister, Clare, has misjudged his financial acumen by comparing his banking strategies to a king’s successful governance
  2. B
    foreshadow a literal natural disaster that will destroy the physical structure of Julian’s banking house and ruin the town
  3. illustrate Julian’s profound hubris by drawing an ironic parallel between his belief in his own financial sovereignty and a historical figure whose action actually demonstrated the limits of human authorityAnswer
  4. D
    document the historical conflict between King Canute and his advisers to provide context for the banking practices of Julian's era
  5. E
    demonstrate that Julian has made a literal treaty with foreign seafaring merchants to secure his banking ventures

Answer

The correct answer is the option that states the allusion illustrates Julian's profound hubris by drawing an ironic parallel between his belief in his own financial sovereignty and a historical figure whose action actually demonstrated the limits of human authority.
The allusion to King Canute is ironic. While Julian invokes Canute to assert his power to control his financial destiny, the legend of Canute actually demonstrates the limits of human authority over nature. The contrast between Julian's hubristic interpretation and the legend's true lesson, coupled with the narrator's warning of the rising water, emphasizes Julian's profound self-deception.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Locate the allusion and context in the text.
Julian boasts that he has 'commanded the tide to respect its boundaries' just like Canute.
Identifying the target allusion is necessary to understand how it operates in the passage.
2
Analyze the traditional literary and historical meaning of the Canute allusion.
In legend, King Canute set his throne by the tide to show his flattering courtiers that even a king cannot control the sea, demonstrating human limitation.
Understanding the allusion's true cultural or historical meaning is essential to detecting irony in a character's usage of it.
3
Compare the character's interpretation of the allusion with the narrator's commentary.
Julian uses Canute to represent absolute command, but the narrator immediately warns that the water is already rising and is indifferent to the crowns of kings.
This step reveals the dramatic irony of the passage: Julian relies on an emblem of humility to boast of his absolute control.
4
Match these findings to the options to select the correct analytical function.
The choice highlighting Julian's hubris and the ironic parallel to human limitation is selected.
The correct choice must capture how the author uses the allusion to reveal character flaw (hubris) and thematic blind spots.

Key Concept

Analyzing the ironic function of literary and historical allusions to characterize a protagonist and establish narrative theme.
Estimated Time:2m 0s
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Topics

Literary Allusions and Their Functions

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