The Facts on File Dictionary of Allusions - Green Valley High School

depicted as a hideous old man dressed in rags. In
ancient times a coin, known as Charon’s toll, was
often placed in the mouth of a corpse prior to
burial as payment to Charon, to ensure the
deceased was seen safely into the underworld.
“<strong>The</strong>re stands a gig in the gray morning, in the
mist, the impatient traveller pacing the wet shore
with whip in hand, and shouting through the fog
after the regardless Charon and his retreating ark,
as if he might throw that passenger overboard and
return forthwith for himself; he will compensate
him” (Henry David Thoreau, A Week on the Concord
and Merrimack Rivers, 1849).
Charybdis See between scylla and charybdis.
Chatterley, Lady See lady chatterley.
Chaucerian (chahrseereebn) Of or relating to the
literary works or world of En glish poet Geoffrey
Chaucer (c. 1343–1400). <strong>The</strong> term is applied
especially to works that are distinctly ribald in
nature, refl ecting the outrageous events depicted
in “<strong>The</strong> Miller’s Tale” and other stories that form
Chaucer’s celebrated Canterbury Tales (c. 1387).
His sense of humor verged on the Chaucerian and
included frequent references to parts of the anatomy that
are usually left out of the conversation in more refi ned
circles.
chauvinism (shovinizbm) Blind patriotism, or
the taking of a superior attitude toward others.
<strong>The</strong> allusion is to Nicolas Chauvin of Rochefort,
a French soldier who fought under Napoleon
Bonaparte, to whom he was deeply devoted, in
the early 19th century. He is reputed to have been
wounded 17 times in the ser vice of his emperor,
but never to have faltered in his fanatical loyalty,
continuing to sing his commander’s praises even
after the emperor’s downfall (perseverance that
led to Chauvin himself being lampooned in various
pop u lar plays and becoming a laughingstock
on both sides of the Atlantic). <strong>The</strong> term was originally
applied to exaggerated patriotic feeling for
one’s country, but has since been extended to
blind belief in various other things, notably (in the
phrase male chauvinism) the assumption of male
superiority over females. “His chauvinism and
arrogance sent a shiver up my spine” (Peter Lewis,
<strong>The</strong> Fifties: Portrait of a Period, 1989).
Checkpoint Charlie A military or police checkpoint.
<strong>The</strong> original Checkpoint Charlie was one of
the few crossing- points between East and West
Berlin during the cold war. Located at the junction
of Friedrichstrasse and Kochstrasse, it was the
only crossing- point in the berlin wall that was
open 24 hours a day and became notorious as the
scene of various spy exchanges and other cloakand-
dagger activities in pop u lar thrillers of the
period. <strong>The</strong> original buildings that constituted the
actual checkpoint (on the U.S. side little more
than a wooden shed) were removed after reunifi -
cation of Germany in 1990, but a copy of the
simple shed was later reinstated on the site as a
tourist attraction. <strong>The</strong> school decided to set up a
Checkpoint Charlie where students could be checked for
knives and other weapons.
Chekhovian (chekoveebn) Reminiscent of the
themes or writing style of the Rus sian playwright
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904). In his plays, which
include <strong>The</strong> Three Sisters (1901) and <strong>The</strong> Cherry
Orchard (1904), he dealt with such themes as
unfulfi lled yearning, frustration, and the decline
of the Rus sian aristocracy. <strong>The</strong> building was infused
with a Chekhovian melancholy that spoke evocatively of
a lost empire.
Chekhovian
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