There are many commonalities among Percival Everett’s many works. Few authors utilize allusions as frequently as Percival Everett. Everett expertly alludes to countless other works in his novel “I Am Not Sidney Poitier” and in his collection of poems titled “re: f(gesture)”. It is impossible to look at Everett’s works through any lens other than an intertextual one. Researching each one of Everett’s many allusions between the novel and the collection of poems would take hours easily. Disregarding Everett’s allusions would not only be an injustice to his works, but it would also make understanding them extremely difficult. Intertextuality and allusions are invaluable to Everett’s writing, because the constant references to other works deepens the complexity of his writing and allows the reader to dive deep into the interconnectedness of his literature.
According to “The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms”, the term allusion is “an indirect reference, often to a person, event, statement, theme, or work. Allusions enrich meaning through the connotations they carry” (10). The second sentence is a great description of allusions because allusions do “enrich” literature through the “connotations” that they add to the work. That is what Everett’s literature is all about, enriching his work through complex connections with other works. When the connections come in between texts it is called “intertextuality”. Intertextuality according to “The Bedford” is the “condition of interconnectedness among texts, or the concept that any text is an amalgam of others, either because it exhibits signs of influence or because its language inevitably contains common points of reference” (215). The “interconnectedness” from Everett’s works to other works stems from his ability to make references that are sometimes blatant and sometimes very well hidden in plain sight. An example of a “blatant” reference is in “re: f(gesture)” when he says “In the Bible, Daniel knew much” (18). This is a clear nod to the Bible and Everett doesn’t seek to hide this allusion. However, in “I Am Not Sidney Poitier”, Patrice says “I guess that warden guy has got hisself one of dem sense of humor” (55). This quote is a not as clear nod to the movie “The Defiant Ones”, which famously starred Sidney Poitier. Without having seen “The Defiant Ones”, a reader could easily overlook this reference as original material that Everett conjured up himself. Understanding where these references derive from enhances the literature for the reader, and brings whole new meanings to Everett’s literature.
Allusions are so vital to Everett’s work that “I am Not Sidney Poitier” is based almost entirely on them. Everett is alluding to award winning actor, Sidney Poitier and his many critically acclaimed films. As stated earlier in this blog, Everett utilized Sidney Poitier’s “The Defiant Ones”, but it certainly does not end there. Elements of “Lilies of the Field” take up the majority of the end of the novel, and it is just as important as “The Defiant Ones”. Everett’s utilization of greedy nuns that convince Not Sidney to do hard labor for them is straight out of “Lilies of the Field”. In “I Am Not Sidney Poitier”, Sister Irenaeus did everything she could to get a church built, telling Not Sidney “We must build the church” (201). This is a clear reference to Mother Maria in “Lilies of the Field” and her desire to “build a chapel”. The allusions doesn’t stop at “Lilies of the Field” however. The novel is riddled with little Sidney Poitier movie easter eggs, like Not Sidney’s dinner with his girlfriend’s parents. This awkward dinner is a reflection of “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner”, which is another famous movie starring Sidney Poitier. In the novel, Not Sidney’s girlfriend, Maggie, has extremely racist parents even though she herself is African American. Not Sidney, is criticized, however, because he is a significantly darker skin tone than Maggie’s family. Maggie’s whole family is guilty of some level of racism, but her father is horrible and isn’t afraid to speak his mind. In one instance, Maggie’s father had the audacity to say “You are a bit on the dark side. Not that I care, but a fact is a fact” (149) to Not Sidney’s face. The whole premise of “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” is black man meeting his white wife’s racist family; so the connection is evident and considering it is another Sidney Poitier work, it is almost certainly a nod to the film. Everett’s references to Sidney Poitier’s many films in “I Am Not Sidney Poitier” shows that there are a vast amount of hidden allusions in his work that make his literature extremely complex.
Everett loves to add allusions into his works in order to connect to other works. His collection of poems entitled “re: f(gesture” and his novel “I Am Not Sidney Poitier” utilize allusions throughout and wouldn’t be the works that they are without the many references. An intertextual web is built by Everett through the connections that he makes.