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Literary notes about Repress (AI summary)

The word "repress" in literature has been used in a remarkably versatile way, often to capture the act of holding back emotions or impulses, while also extending to broader notions of self-control and suppression. In many examples, authors illustrate characters struggling to conceal their internal reactions—Lizzie in [1] and characters in [2], [3], and [4] cannot hold back indignation, tears, or shudders, respectively. Meanwhile, writers such as Rousseau in [5] and [6] employ it to suggest a deliberate effort to control overwhelming desires or passions, emphasizing self-discipline and restraint. At the same time, the term appears in more abstract and sociopolitical contexts, as Bergson notes in [7] and [8], where repression becomes a mechanism for managing disruptive forces. This broad application, from subtle personal expressions to larger ideological or natural phenomena, underscores the nuanced role of "repress" as a literary tool to portray inner conflict and the complexity of human behavior.
  1. 'He is nothing to you, I think,' said Lizzie, with an indignation she could not repress.
    — from Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
  2. This discouraging information a little dashed the child, who could scarcely repress a tear as she glanced along the darkening road.
    — from The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens
  3. You see what a—" "Oh, poor mother, poor father!" said Mary, her eyes filling with tears, and a little sob rising which she tried to repress.
    — from Middlemarch by George Eliot
  4. On recognizing her step-mother, Valentine could not repress a shudder, which caused a vibration in the bed.
    — from The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet
  5. You stop me here to inquire whether it is nature which teaches us to take such pains to repress our immoderate desires.
    — from Emile by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
  6. As he acquires knowledge, choose what ideas he shall attach to it; as his passions awake, select scenes calculated to repress them.
    — from Emile by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
  7. Now, it is the business of laughter to repress any separatist tendency.
    — from Laughter: An Essay on the Meaning of the Comic by Henri Bergson
  8. Each "I don't say that!" reveals a growing effort to repress something that strives and struggles to get out.
    — from Laughter: An Essay on the Meaning of the Comic by Henri Bergson

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