Literary notes about AMBIVALENT (AI summary)
In literature, the term "ambivalent" is often used to convey the coexistence of contradictory emotional states or conflicting attitudes. It captures the inner tension that characters or cultural phenomena experience, as seen in discussions of taboo and forbidden emotions where it signifies a blend of love and hate [1, 2, 3, 4]. At times it is employed to explore broader social and political sentiments, such as cautious national policies or mixed attitudes toward foreigners and technology [5, 6, 7, 8]. The word also surfaces in psychological and diagnostic contexts, highlighting the inherent complexity of human emotions and behaviors, from familial relationships to artistic dispositions [9, 10, 11, 12, 13]. This multifaceted usage reflects literature’s ongoing interest in portraying the nuances and contradictions of the human condition [14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23].
- With the decline of this ambivalence the taboo, as the compromise symptom of the ambivalent conflict, also slowly disappeared.
— from Totem and Taboo by Sigmund Freud - I mean that the relation is really ‘ambivalent’, that is, it is composed of conflicting feelings of tenderness and hostility.
— from Totem and Taboo by Sigmund Freud - His behaviour towards his totem animal was subtly ambivalent, expressing itself in immoderate hating and loving.
— from Totem and Taboo by Sigmund Freud - The desire to violate it continues in the unconscious; persons who obey the taboo have an ambivalent feeling toward what is affected by the taboo.
— from Totem and Taboo by Sigmund Freud - The revolt against the village (about which Anderson was always ambivalent) has faded into history.
— from Winesburg, Ohio: A Group of Tales of Ohio Small Town Life by Sherwood Anderson - Although most Eastern European countries began to deemphasize polytechnic instruction, Bulgaria's course was more cautious and ambivalent.
— from Area Handbook for Bulgaria by Eugene K. Keefe - However, I feel obliged to be ambivalent towards technology.
— from William Gibson Interviewed by Giuseppe Salza - This foreigner came in with an ambivalent attitude toward the English.
— from The Way They Lived ThenSerious Interviews, Strong Women, and Lessons for Life in the Novels of Anthony Trollope by Taylor Prewitt - Let us suppose the subject has ambivalent feelings toward his father.
— from A Practical Guide to Self-Hypnosis by Melvin Powers - Let us recall that in our earlier discussion we took note of the ambivalent character of love.
— from Herein is LoveA Study of the Biblical Doctrine of Love in Its Bearing on Personality, Parenthood, Teaching, and All Other Human Relationships. by Reuel L. Howe - We are now prepared to admit that throughout the ages there has existed a strongly dualistic or "ambivalent" feeling in the mind of man toward woman.
— from Taboo and Genetics A Study of the Biological, Sociological and Psychological Foundation of the Family by Phyllis Mary Blanchard - Similarly all other tendencies, under the stress of emotions, are balanced by their opposites—thus giving an ambivalent character to their expression.
— from Collected Papers on Analytical Psychology by C. G. (Carl Gustav) Jung - I was working therapeutically on a regular, individual basis with an ambivalent adolescent male labeled diagnostically as a paranoid schizophrenic.
— from Humanistic Nursing by Loretta T. Zderad - Ambivalent, 61 . in hysterical symptom, 63-5 .
— from Group Psychology and The Analysis of The Ego by Sigmund Freud - On this ambivalent character of anti-semitism, cf.
— from The Grey Book A collection of protests against anti-semitism and the persecution of Jews issued by non-Roman Catholic churches and church leaders during Hitlers rule by Johan M. Snoek - But I have to ask if the feelings and instincts are really ambivalent?
— from Collected Papers on Analytical Psychology by C. G. (Carl Gustav) Jung - Russians are still ambivalent about foreigners.
— from Russian Roulette: Russia's Economy in Putin's Era by Samuel Vaknin - Carey’s relationship to opera was ambivalent, but in Mocking is Catching he strongly attacked Senesino.
— from A Learned Dissertation on Dumpling (1726)[and] Pudding and Dumpling Burnt to Pot. Or a Compleat Key to the Dissertation on Dumpling (1727) by Henry Carey - Believe me, I've had a lot of experience with ambivalent patients."
— from Syndrome by Thomas Hoover - He was ambivalent whether or not the Laotian meant to say, "Dee
— from An Apostate: Nawin of Thais by Steven David Justin Sills - "The other half of the ambivalent drive, your love desire can be committed in a platonic admiration or a patriotic zeal as you call it.
— from For Every Man A Reason by Patrick Wilkins - His ambivalent finger remained pendent over a button that would keep the nearest door open if pressed.
— from Tokyo to Tijuana: Gabriele Departing America by Steven David Justin Sills - C7-70 The reports of Carro and Mrs. Siegel also indicate an ambivalent attitude toward authority on Oswald’s part.
— from Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy by United States. Warren Commission
