Literary notes about Inoffensive (AI summary)
The term "inoffensive" has been used in literature to denote a range of qualities from harmlessness and moderateness to a subtle blend of civility and unremarkable nature. For instance, in Victor Hugo's work it is employed to contrast characters by suggesting a measured, moderate demeanor ([1]), while in Thomas Hardy and Anne Brontë its use highlights an understated quality—whether in a woman's gentle refusal or a shadow-like presence that's incapable of causing harm ([2], [3]). In other cases, authors like Jules Verne and Kate Chopin describe animals or persons as inoffensive to emphasize their harmless, agreeable traits, sometimes even bordering on mediocrity as seen in descriptions of benign societal figures ([4], [5]). This multifaceted usage underscores the term as a literary tool to signal both literal and figurative harmlessness, providing a nuanced commentary on character and social dynamics.
- The other, compared to him, seemed moderate and inoffensive.
— from The History of a Crime by Victor Hugo - It would have seemed pretty and sweet, if no more; and then she would have shown how kind and inoffensive a woman's "No" can sometimes be.
— from Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy - "Why, had I been Nero himself, I could not have tormented a being inoffensive as a shadow."
— from Villette by Charlotte Brontë - These beautiful animals, peaceable and inoffensive, from eighteen to twenty-one feet in length, weigh at least sixteen hundredweight.
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea by Jules Verne - [685] Under the influence of the general exaltation, we see the most mediocre and inoffensive bourgeois become either a hero or a butcher.
— from The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life by Émile Durkheim
