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Literary notes about He (AI summary)

In literature, the pronoun “he” functions as a flexible narrative tool, embodying both action and character identity. It frequently introduces and centers male figures in diverse settings—from Shakespeare’s mythic and vigorous challenges [1] to the more earthy, vernacular charm of Twain’s rustic characters [2, 3]. “He” can denote heroic agency, as seen with the steadfast protagonists in Hugo’s or Tolstoy’s works [4, 5], while also carrying ambiguity or introspection when authors use it to hint at internal struggles or subtle narrative shifts [6, 7]. In historical, biblical, and poetic texts alike, “he” not only marks characters’ physical actions, as in Flavius Josephus’ terse statement [8] or the allegorical burnings in folk tales [9], but also bridges dialogue and description, lending a personal yet universal quality to the prose [10, 11]. This versatile use underscores its centrality in storytelling, where “he” helps readers navigate characters’ identities and the unfolding of intricate plots.
  1. You vile abominable tents, Thus proudly pight upon our Phrygian plains, Let Titan rise as early as he dare, I’ll through and through you.
    — from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
  2. I got the thing, and the first rat that showed his nose I let drive, and if he’d a stayed where he was he’d a been a tolerable sick rat.
    — from Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
  3. He went a mooning around, first to one rat-hole and then another, till he’d been to them all.
    — from Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
  4. He had trusty fellows, accomplices’ retreats in case of emergencies, in which he would, no doubt, take refuge.
    — from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
  5. At first he saw nothing reprehensible in this, but in the second year of his marriage his view of that form of punishment suddenly changed.
    — from War and Peace by graf Leo Tolstoy
  6. “Whom do you mean by ‘he’?”
    — from The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
  7. He was troubled and did not attempt to conceal it.
    — from Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
  8. He Did In Judea. 1.
    — from Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus
  9. The Sun was very fond of his children, but whenever he tried to embrace any of them, he was so hot that he burned them up.
    — from Philippine Folk Tales
  10. He lifted his cap courteously, but he would have passed on in silence, if Anne had not stopped and held out her hand.
    — from Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery
  11. he cried to me in a thin, shrill voice.
    — from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

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