Literary notes about Disobedient (AI summary)
Across literary genres, the term "disobedient" has been employed to describe a range of behaviors—from the unruly antics of children to defiant challenges to authority. In some works it labels youthful misbehavior and stubbornness, as seen in admonitions given to capricious children in both folklore and realistic narratives [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6], while in others it carries a more philosophically or politically charged meaning, alluding to the refusal to submit to divine or state authority [7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12]. Authors have also used the word to indicate a mere deviation from expected norms without implying evil intent, as when a character is described as disobedient yet endearing or capable of reform [13, 14, 15], or it may serve as a tool for social and moral critique, questioning the nature of duty and loyalty [16, 17, 18]. In military and disciplinary contexts, "disobedient" underscores the importance of order and obedience in maintaining structure, as illustrated by stern warnings to remain compliant [19, 20, 21]. Overall, the usage of "disobedient" reveals the complexities of authority, conformity, and individual will in literature.
- Pablo was very industrious, but Juan was lazy and disobedient.
— from Filipino Popular Tales - When possible, a child should be taken away the instant it becomes disobedient.
— from Etiquette by Emily Post - They were nervous, irritable, disobedient, and uncooperative while they were there—and even they didn’t know why.
— from The Lani People by Jesse F. Bone - That girl went nigh to disobeying me, but then she did not learn this morn how I treat the disobedient.
— from She by H. Rider Haggard - I would rather see you changed into a bird than to remain such a disobedient, worthless boy.”
— from Filipino Popular Tales - “What disobedient children!” cried the old Water-rat; “they really deserve to be drowned.”
— from The Happy Prince, and Other Tales by Oscar Wilde - not as being Infidels, but as being disobedient: And this was the first knot upon their Liberty.
— from Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes - and though God Made thee without thy leave, what if thy Son 760 Prove disobedient, and reprov'd, retort, Wherefore didst thou beget me?
— from The Poetical Works of John Milton by John Milton - But what is written must be true: they "stumble at the Word, being disobedient; whereunto also they were appointed.
— from The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan Every Child Can Read by John Bunyan - the Almighty Creator betrayed by a puny being of his own creation into the hands of his disobedient and rebellious children?
— from The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors; Or, Christianity Before Christ by Kersey Graves - They experienced a new motion of their flesh, which had become disobedient to them, in strict retribution of their own disobedience to God.
— from The City of God, Volume I by Bishop of Hippo Saint Augustine - and though God Made thee without thy leave, what if thy Son Prove disobedient, and reprov’d, retort,
— from Paradise Lost by John Milton - He was disobedient, though not evil.
— from A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett - The widow had never been disobedient to the law, and was strong in her just rights.
— from Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen by H. C. Andersen - I planned to meditate, but my laudable purpose was unshared by disobedient thoughts.
— from Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda - At the same time, they err greatly who imagine that this man's courage was ferocity, mere coarse disobedient obstinacy and savagery, as many do.
— from On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History by Thomas Carlyle - Is it not grievous that the intellectual part alone should be disobedient, and fret at its function?
— from The Meditations of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus by Emperor of Rome Marcus Aurelius - Still the cause had other advocates, and every pulpit in the land resounded with anathemas against that disobedient and long-haired generation.
— from Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds by Charles Mackay - He shook his head, and said that the boy had been impudent and disobedient, ever since he bought him; that he was going to break him in, once for all.
— from Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe - “'Tis impossible,” cried Prince John, with well-feigned astonishment, “that so gallant a knight should be an unworthy or disobedient son!”
— from Ivanhoe: A Romance by Walter Scott - He must not refuse his duty, or be in any way disobedient, but all the work that an officer gets out of him, he may be welcome to.
— from Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana
