Déjà Vu: What an Allusion is

Have you ever just been reading along and suddenly, the characters says or does something that reminds you of some other subject? That's an allusion. Allusions are cultural references that authors add to stories to make them a bit more interesting. If you've ever read Fahrenheit 451, you'll know that Bradbury LOVES putting subtle allusions into his text. Well what might an allusion be? Well, anything. Anything that the readers might be able to connect to. You might have an allusion to music, religion, TV, other authors, or even other books.
For example: on page 93 of Fahrenheit 451, Faber begins reading Montag (Two of the characters in the story. Faber is a retired literature professor and Montag is a fireman who burns books. This is an excellent novel. I suggest you find the time to read it someday.) the Book of Job. What happens in the book of Job? Well Job is a man who never did anything wrong in life. Obeyed the law, said his prayers, was good to his children, and one day the devil comes up to gad and says that Job wouldn't love God so much if his life was so easy, so God lets the devil attack Job. Job looses all of his children, livestock, servants. He get's REALLY sick and covered in boils. A random kid walks up to him and starts criticizing him. Job's life get ruined.But never once dose he dis God, so in the end, God gives everything back to Job double what he had before. OK, so? Job's life is ruined, and well, Montag's life soon will be too. So, this allusion is a clever bit of foreshadowing, all it you need to do to find it is to take that extra minute and a half to look it up and see if it means anything.
Honestly, I like when I find an allusion in a book. It makes me feel clever when I figure out what it means, and when I'm writing, I feel like I'm giving the readers a little extra. Not to mention, it helps to make what's coming next a lot more justified. So next time you're reading, and you pick up on something that might be a little more than it displays, check it out. Odds are, its an allusion, and you just got a one-up on the story. Not to mention, finding these can be a lot of fun...