Literary notes about Vagary (AI summary)
The word "vagary" has been deployed in literature to capture a sense of unpredictable or whimsical deviation from the norm. In the historical context of the suffrage movement, as seen in [1], it marks a final, perhaps unpredictable, twist in the longstanding dynamics among groups, here concerning gender and rights. Hawthorne’s use in [2] underscores how even a steadfast, rational individual can be affected by peculiar and unforeseen twists in circumstance. Meanwhile, in Melville’s narrative [3], "vagary" is employed to critique a stubborn, obstinate demeanor, and Hardy’s work [4] reflects a curiosity toward an unusual, capricious habit of behavior. Together, these examples illustrate the word’s flexible capacity to denote various shades of unpredictability, from social transformations to individual eccentricities.
- THE LAST VAGARY OF THE GREELEY CLIQUE—THE WOMEN, THEIR RIGHTS, AND THEIR CHAMPIONS.
— from History of Woman Suffrage, Volume I - "But the strangest part of the affair is the effect of this vagary even on a sober-minded man like myself.
— from Twice-told tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne - Surely you do not mean to persist in that mulish vagary?"
— from Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street by Herman Melville - "A strange vagary, this of hers, isn't it, Oak?" said Coggan, curiously.
— from Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
