Literary notes about Lock (AI summary)
In literature, the term "lock" is richly multifaceted, serving both literal and symbolic functions. It often denotes a physical mechanism for security – securing doors, chests, or even metaphorical gateways to secrets and hidden inner selves, as seen when characters lock doors to protect privacy or conceal clandestine affairs [1], [2], [3]. At other times, it embodies the notion of preservation or remembrance, whether in the form of a treasured lock of hair marking a significant moment [4], [5] or an emblematic key to one’s personal promise [6]. Moreover, the word extends beyond its utilitarian sense by evoking ideas of confinement or mystery in settings ranging from canal locks that mark geographical transitions [7] to the enigmatic closures in suspenseful narratives [8], [9]. This layered use enriches the text, inviting readers to ponder issues of security, intimacy, and the barriers that both protect and isolate us.
- “Yes; I had given Miss Harrison instructions to lock the door on the outside and take the key with her when she went to bed.
— from The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle - She smiled back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her key turn in the lock.”
— from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle - 'Lock the door on the outside,' said Mr. Brownlow to the attendants, 'and come when I ring.'
— from Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens - At the end of that time the high priest takes them to a lonely place in the forest, and cuts off a lock of hair from the crown of each of their heads.
— from The Golden Bough: A Study of Magic and Religion by James George Frazer - The body was then stripped of its jewelry, and a lock of hair cut off by the daughter-in-law for preservation, together with a fragment of the skull.
— from Castes and Tribes of Southern India. Vol. 7 of 7 by Edgar Thurston - I have a Key in my bosom called Promise, that will, I am persuaded, open any Lock in Doubting Castle.
— from The Pilgrim's Progress from this world to that which is to come by John Bunyan - A little above Mapledurham lock you pass Hardwick House, where Charles I. played bowls.
— from Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog) by Jerome K. Jerome - Then I heard a key inserted and turned in the lock behind me.
— from The island of Doctor Moreau by H. G. Wells - An instant later came the slam of the door and the turning of the key in the lock.
— from The Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle
