Literary notes about Disown (AI summary)
The word "disown" in literature carries a weighty blend of personal repudiation and social or ideological renunciation. It is often used to denote a severing of ties—whether with family, personal identity, or established conventions. For example, authors illustrate characters rejecting their inherited traits or relationships, as seen when a character is warned that disgraceful behavior could lead to being disowned by loved ones [1, 2]. In other works, "disown" reflects an inner conflict, a refusal to be bound by one's past or by imposed expectations; Charlotte Brontë in Villette [3, 4] uses the term to underline the tension between personal identity and external judgment. Meanwhile, figures in texts from different genres also employ the word to challenge ideological or societal norms—as in the renunciation of inherited principles [5] or even as a defiant declaration against imposed authority [6]. Thus, across literature, "disown" functions as a powerful metaphor for rejecting what is no longer acceptable in one's life.
- But if you do anything disgraceful, I'll disown you—mind that, madam, mind that!”
— from Adam Bede by George Eliot - My father pat me frae his door, My friends they hae disown'd me a';
— from Poems and Songs of Robert Burns by Robert Burns - "As if you could not sooner disown your own personality!
— from Villette by Charlotte Brontë - If you grow fat I disown you."
— from Villette by Charlotte Brontë - For my own part, I have laid aside even the name of my father, and altogether disown his political principles.
— from The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - True, I wear the badge, but I’ll disown the order.
— from The Way of the World by William Congreve
