Literary notes about Privilege (AI summary)
The term "privilege" in literature is a multifaceted device used to examine power, entitlement, and social hierarchy in varying contexts. It can denote a formal right or legal concession, as seen in references to exclusive legal and political benefits ([1], [2], [3]), while simultaneously exposing the inherent injustices of such advantages ([4], [5], [6]). At times it is portrayed as a coveted honor or personal benefit, whether in the simple joys of life ([7], [8]) or the high social distinctions of aristocracy ([9], [10], [11]). Conversely, the word is employed with irony or criticism to underscore how privileges can restrict freedom or create moral dilemmas ([12], [13], [14]). Thus, across diverse narratives—from historical treatises to personal memoirs—literature uses "privilege" to explore both the empowering and problematic dimensions of social advantage ([15], [16], [17]).
- This privilege was at first insignificant, but afterwards became of infinite importance, because most disputes were settled before a jury.
— from Plutarch's Lives, Volume 1 (of 4) by Plutarch - The free citizens of Athens and Rome enjoyed, in all criminal cases, the invaluable privilege of being tried by their country.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - payable to the Order of Christ; this privilege to be transmitted to his descendants.
— from A Journal of the First Voyage of Vasco da Gama 1497-1499 - I think the history of the race shows that the upper classes never granted a privilege to the lower out of love.
— from History of Woman Suffrage, Volume I - It is the aim of progressive education to take part in correcting unfair privilege and unfair deprivation, not to perpetuate them.
— from Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education by John Dewey - In every great reform the majority have always said to the claimant, no matter what he claimed, "You are not fit for such a privilege."
— from History of Woman Suffrage, Volume I - It was my privilege to celebrate May day by officiating at a wedding in a farm-house among the hills of West Brookfield.
— from History of Woman Suffrage, Volume I - "My heart heaved and swelled as I felt myself blessed by the privilege of being in his sublime presence.
— from Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda - Such is the privilege which you have assumed of talking nonsense with impunity.
— from Cicero's Tusculan Disputations by Marcus Tullius Cicero - The last Earl of the line fell in the wars of the Commonwealth fighting for the King, and the odd privilege ended with him.
— from The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain - The Romans condemned tresses as unmanly, and in France in the middle ages the privilege to wear them was confined to royalty.
— from The Gentlemen's Book of Etiquette and Manual of Politeness by Cecil B. Hartley - In the present—and still more in the future condition of society-they imply, not privilege, but restriction!"
— from The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne - You claim the privilege of reason in the highest degree, since you seek to impress us with your complete reasonableness.
— from Dracula by Bram Stoker - But, as they cannot lay hold of it, they try to discover reasons why this privilege is withheld from them.
— from The Twilight of the Idols; or, How to Philosophize with the Hammer. The Antichrist by Nietzsche - The slaves begged the privilege of again meeting at their little church in the woods, with their burying ground around it.
— from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself by Harriet A. Jacobs - Doubtless the privilege was bought for cash.
— from How the Other Half Lives: Studies Among the Tenements of New York by Jacob A. Riis - By this method you might get something like this: "Liberty is a sacred privilege for which mankind always had to fight.
— from The Art of Public Speaking by Dale Carnegie and J. Berg Esenwein
