Literary notes about Easy (AI summary)
The term "easy" is deployed in literature with remarkable versatility, conveying not only simplicity and lack of resistance but also sometimes irony or moral commentary. In certain contexts, it underscores an effortless quality—whether in describing a character’s fluid behavior or the straightforwardness of a task—as seen when a character’s nature is labeled as "easy-going" ([1]) or when a process is portrayed as uncomplicated ([2], [3]). Yet "easy" can also imply a subtle critique or hint at a deeper vulnerability, such as in reflections on moral or intellectual efforts that appear deceptively simple ([4], [5], [6]). This shifting nuance enriches narrative tone and deepens the reader’s engagement.
- He was a mild, good-natured, sweet-tempered, easy-going, foolish, dear fellow,—a sort of Hercules in strength, and also in weakness.
— from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens - No! to crystallize this liquor, only an extremely easy operation is required.
— from The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne - With easy stride, he accordingly walked up to the place.
— from Hung Lou Meng, or, the Dream of the Red Chamber, a Chinese Novel, Book I by Xueqin Cao - “I expect this thing’ll kill me, but I shall die easy now.
— from Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad - The easy and the familiar are equivalents, as are the strange and the difficult.
— from How We Think by John Dewey - It is so easy to talk of “passing emotion,” and to forget how vivid the emotion was ere
— from Howards End by E. M. Forster
