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.
- 'He is nothing to you, I think,' said Lizzie, with an indignation she could not repress.
— from Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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