The word despairing is frequently deployed to convey a deep, often overwhelming sense of hopelessness or emotional breakdown, whether through the inner thoughts of a solitary character or the collective mood of a scene. It appears as a qualifier that intensifies both actions and atmospheres: we see it characterizing a gesture of forlorn resignation ([1], [2]), describing expressions that reveal internal torment ([3], [4]), and even setting the tone of entire days or narratives burdened by a weight of sorrow ([5], [6]). At times, its use is subtle—a mere modifying note that heightens the reader’s awareness of a character’s inner dismay ([7], [8])—while in other instances it functions as a central motif driving home the inescapability of despair, as when despairing moods and actions lead characters to relinquish hope or to act out in moments of emotional extremity ([9], [10]). This flexible application across different contexts underlines the term’s power in evoking the nuanced struggles of the human spirit in literature.