Literary notes about Disappointment (AI summary)
In literature, "disappointment" functions as a nuanced emotional marker that reveals both the depth of personal disillusionment and the tension between expectation and reality. Its employment ranges from the understated letdown that paradoxically intensifies hope or joy, as seen when a minor setback accentuates later improvements ([1]), to the profound sorrow and reflective resignation that accentuate a character’s internal struggles ([2], [3]). Authors often use the term to underscore the bittersweet nature of human experience—illustrating how even success can be tinged with regret or how unfulfilled aspirations shape emotional journeys ([4], [5]). At times, "disappointment" also serves as a vehicle for social commentary, highlighting collective discontent or the inevitable gap between idealized expectations and harsh realities ([6], [7]).
- Meanwhile that little disappointment made her delight the more in Sir James Chettam's readiness to set on foot the desired improvements.
— from Middlemarch by George Eliot - It was so different to all which Margaret had hoped and expected, that she turned sick with disappointment, and was silent for an instant.
— from North and South by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell - How great had been his hopes and how great his disappointment!
— from Phaedo by Plato - Night after night his disappointment is acute, but hope springs eternal in the scholastic breast, and he follows me again to-morrow.
— from Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens - ‘I can’t do it,’ said the dejected creature, looking up with bitter disappointment in every feature.
— from Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens - The public mind will be sore this winter, disappointment awaits vast numbers, dismay will overtake many.
— from The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony (Volume 1 of 2) by Ida Husted Harper - Thoughts of malice, envy, disappointment, despondency, rob the body of its health and grace.
— from As a man thinketh by James Allen
