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

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Baal (bahl) A false god; an idol. <strong>The</strong> name, from
the Hebrew ba’al (meaning “lord”), was originally
applied to various ancient Semitic fertility gods
and also appeared in Phoenician mythology as the
name of the supreme sun god and god of fertility.
Baal is identifi ed in the Bible as the false pagan
idol to which the Israelites briefl y devoted themselves
at the prompting of jezebel (1 Kings 16–21).
“What had he now brought down upon himself
by sojourning thus in the tents of the heathen?
He had consorted with idolaters round the altars
of Baal, and therefore a sore punishment had
come upon him” (Anthony Trollope, Barchester
Towers, 1857).
Babbitt (babit) A person who lacks any interest
in culture, a philistine. <strong>The</strong> allusion is to the novel
Babbitt (1922), by the U.S. writer Sinclair Lewis, the
central character of which is a simpleminded businessman
whose life is fi lled with the mundane preoccupations
of his work, to the exclusion of any
cultural activity. <strong>The</strong> streets were full of Babbitts chasing
the elusive buck.
Babel See tower of babel.
babes and sucklings, out of the mouths of See
out of the mouths of babes and sucklings.
babes in the wood A group of people whose
innocence of the world is seen as making them
vulnerable. <strong>The</strong> allusion is ultimately to an En glish
broadside ballad entitled “<strong>The</strong> Children in the
Wood; or, the Norfolk Gentleman’s Last Will and
Testament,” which fi rst appeared in Percy’s Reliques
in 1595 and at around the same time as an
early melodrama. It has since, in much changed
form, been adapted as the basis of pop u lar Christmas
pantomimes. <strong>The</strong> original tale concerns two
young children who are left in the care of a
wicked uncle after their father, the master of
Wayland Hall in Norfolk, dies. Seeking to steal the
children’s inheritance, their uncle pays two thugs to
murder the infants. One of the men is overcome
with pity for the victims’ plight and kills his confederate
before abandoning the children deep in the
woods. <strong>The</strong> children die and their tiny bodies are
covered with leaves by a robin redbreast. In punishment
for his crime, the wicked uncle suffers a series
of terrible misfortunes, culminating in his own
death in prison. In modern versions of the tale the
tragic ending is usually revised so that the children
are restored to their inheritance, often through the
intervention of the folk hero robin hood. “This is
marriage, Trot; and Heaven bless you both, in it, for
a pair of babes in the wood as you are!” (Charles
Dickens, David Copperfi eld, 1849–50).
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