Literary notes about Pointless (AI summary)
The term "pointless" is used across literature to signal futility, lack of purpose, or even deliberate irony. In adventure narratives, such as those by Jules Verne, it underscores calculated decisions where risk outweighs reward—for instance, dismissing efforts that might unnecessarily endanger lives [1, 2, 3, 4]. In other texts, like those by Kafka and H. G. Wells, the word conveys an existential or bureaucratic emptiness, critiquing systems that seem void of meaning [5, 6, 7, 8]. At times, "pointless" is applied to dialogue or narrative elements that appear redundant or trivial, reflecting a meta-commentary on storytelling itself [9, 10, 11, 12]. The word may also appear in more tactile descriptions, where objects like weapons or botanical parts are characterized as lacking a functional edge [13, 14, 15, 16]. In each of these instances, the term becomes a prism through which authors explore themes of inefficacy, absurdity, or the senseless nature of certain actions and conventions in life.
- "Well, Captain," I said, "on behalf of the baleen whales, there's still time—" "It's pointless to run any risks, professor.
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World by Jules Verne - "Unfortunately," I said, "this pasta won't stay fresh, so it seems pointless to make a supply for on board."
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World by Jules Verne - "Oh, I could produce the air needed on board, but it would be pointless, since I can rise to the surface of the sea whenever I like.
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World by Jules Verne - "Don't be so irritable, Ned," I then told the harpooner, "and don't ruin things for us with pointless violence.
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World by Jules Verne - Nothing would have been more nonsensical and, above all, more pointless and contemptible.
— from The Trial by Franz Kafka - It would have been so pointless to kill himself that, even if he had wanted to, the pointlessness would have made him unable.
— from The Trial by Franz Kafka - That was the sort of totally pointless thing that went through his mind in his present state, pressed upright against the door and listening.
— from Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka - Its purpose is to arrest innocent people and wage pointless prosecutions against them which, as in my case, lead to no result.
— from The Trial by Franz Kafka - " Mr. Magnus was fond of telling little stories, obscure and pointless, and Maggie supposed that it was a literary habit.
— from The Captives by Hugh Walpole - Finally it was over and I hit the doors, heading for the gates and the stupid Mission and my pointless house.
— from Little Brother by Cory Doctorow - Their conversation worried me; it seemed to be pointless and concerned with things that did not matter at all.
— from The Wooden Horse by Hugh Walpole - I did not think I was being inappropriate in posing that question, which seemed quite pointless to Balzac.
— from Honoré de Balzac by Théophile Gautier - Pointless the shaft fell at David's feet.
— from Just David by Eleanor H. (Eleanor Hodgman) Porter - [1571] The curtana or 'pointless sword' of mercy; the 'pointed sword' of justice; the 'golden rod' of equity.
— from Representative English Comedies, v. 1. From the beginnings to Shakespeare - [*] Callus or base of the flower short and blunt; lower glumes pointless.
— from The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Including the District East of the Mississippi and North of North Carolina and Tennessee by Asa Gray - Stamens borne on the throat of the indurated 5-cleft and pointless calyx.
— from The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Including the District East of the Mississippi and North of North Carolina and Tennessee by Asa Gray
