> The backslash tells perl to recognize the character "as is" and not as a special character, correct?

Yes with some exceptions:

    \t		tab             (HT, TAB)
    \n		newline         (NL)
    \r		return          (CR)
    \f		form feed       (FF)
    \b		backspace       (BS)
    \a		alarm (bell)    (BEL)
    \e		escape          (ESC)
    \033	octal char	(example: ESC)
    \x1b	hex char	(example: ESC)
    \x{263a}	wide hex char	(example: SMILEY)
    \c[		control char    (example: ESC)
    \N{name}	named Unicode character


    \l		lowercase next char
    \u		uppercase next char
    \L		lowercase till \E
    \U		uppercase till \E
    \E		end case modification
    \Q		quote non-word characters till \E

see: perldoc perlop (Quote and Quote-like Operators)