Biblical References In Literature

It seems that there are no longer many original works, it is nigh impossible to name a work that does not somehow derive influence from a prior one. The origins of many stories work their way back to what some consider the most influential set of stories, the stories of the Bible. Whether one is religious or not its almost impossible not to see similar themes, ideas and concepts between most literature and the Bible. The reason a reader so often sees biblical references come up in other work, is a little thing literature likes to call intertextuality. Writers often reference common Biblical stories that carry symbolic implications through a work, and writers such as Dickens employ many Biblical parallels for the reader to reference. Before the 20th century writers could rely on the general public being familiar with the stories of the Bible, this made it easy for people to make connections to the literature they were reading. The first Biblical reference that comes to mind is the Jerry Cruncher referring to himself as a “resurrection-man”.(Dickens,
The Garden of Eden, David and Goliath, Jonah and the Whale, the Flood, and the Apocalypse are some of the main stories that writers rely on. Writers can use Biblical parallels because of intertextuality, this literary device helps interrelate two texts and give readers pre-knowledge and understanding within a text. Biblical stories play important roles within other stories because it gives something that the reader can relate to, especially in times when people were more religious. In conclusion the Bible and its many stories play an important role with another work of text because it they hold deep symbolic value that allows the reader insight into the story; when Dickens employs Biblical references he does so to better describe the scene at