How does the author use allusion in the novel, We Cast a Shadow?

Ruffin’s narrator often uses names or descriptions that indirectly or directly reference historical events, popular culture, and mythology. For example, New Rosewood, the name of the commune where Nigel is living at the end of the novel is a reference to the predominantly-black town, Rosewood, which was destroyed by a white mob in the early 20th century. Similarly, the Tiko is described as being short for “Tikoloshe,” the name for a mischievous water sprite in Zulu mythology.

Other more obvious allusions are made to major works of literature. The narrator makes several references to Shakespeare, who he notes was a favorite writer of his father's. In a scene where the narrator has taken Nigel to Dr. Nzing's office for a demelanization consult, the narrator describes the desire to refer the “damned spot” (223) that is Nigel's birthmark, a nod to Shakespeare's Macbeth that doubles as a reference to the narrator's growing madness. Similarly, while recalling memories from the Tiko, the narrator mentions seeing red wheelbarrows, overturned, and remarks, “so much depends upon a man with a hatred of his own” (111), a line that borrows from the William Carlos Williams' poem, “The Red Wheelbarrow.”