Literary notes about Restive (AI summary)
The term "restive" is employed by authors to evoke a sense of agitation and resistance, whether manifest in human temperament or animal behavior. In character portrayals, it captures an inner unease and impatience, as seen in Mrs. Babbitt’s demeanor on the morning of a significant dinner ([1]) and the growing discontent of a reluctant audience ([2]). Equally, in descriptions of animals—especially horses—it conveys a visual restlessness, where a steed's untamed movements under pressure serve as a metaphor for resistance ([3], [4]). This dual application reflects how literature utilizes "restive" to highlight both the subtle turbulence in human emotions and the overt defiance against confinement in the animal world.
- II On the morning of the dinner, Mrs. Babbitt was restive.
— from Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis - “He has something very important to say to you,” she cried, her voice reaching out above the heads of her restive audience.
— from Azalea at Sunset Gap by Elia Wilkinson Peattie - A peasant's cart, a tumbril, was waiting to take the body to the cemetery; the driver was having a hard time con-trolling a foolish and restive horse.
— from A Volunteer Poilu by Henry Beston - Driving was out of the question, because one of the horses was restive, and bolted in the shafts.
— from Anna Karenina by graf Leo Tolstoy
