Literary notes about Obstruction (AI summary)
In literature, "obstruction" functions both as a depiction of physical barriers and a metaphor for abstract challenges. Authors may use the term to describe natural impediments that alter the course of rivers or halt progress, as seen when a river is choked by a blockage that causes high floods [1] or when a rushing current washes away a barrier [2]. At the same time, the word is employed in more technical and symbolic contexts—such as in phonetics where it defines the cessation of airflow in producing certain sounds [3] or to evoke internal or social blockages that characters must overcome [4] and that serve as both puzzles and motivations [5]. This dual usage enriches narratives, allowing "obstruction" to represent obstacles that are simultaneously tangible and emblematic of broader struggles.
- This obstruction in the river accounts for the water in high floods riseing to Such a hite at the last falls.
— from The Journals of Lewis and Clark, 1804-1806 by William Clark and Meriwether Lewis - The river being high the rush of water through the cut was so great that in a very short time the entire obstruction was washed away.
— from Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, Complete by Ulysses S. Grant - Consonants which are formed by stopping the breath in the oral cavity and then suddenly removing the obstruction are called explosives .
— from A Latin Grammar for Schools and Colleges by George Martin Lane - There must be no obstruction, no ill-feeling between the teacher and the pupil, if the best results are to be obtained.
— from Pushing to the Front by Orison Swett Marden - They were at once the deepest puzzle, the strongest obstruction, and the keenest stimulus, I had ever felt.
— from Villette by Charlotte Brontë
