Literary notes about Week (AI summary)
The word “week” in literature frequently functions as a flexible unit of time, marking both the routine and the momentous. It can denote a simple span in which everyday life unfolds—as in routine visits, weekly payments, or scheduled practices ([1], [2], [3])—while also setting the stage for more dramatic turning points, like a burial following “the following week” ([4]) or the suspense of waiting for someone’s return ([5], [6]). Authors also use “week” to suggest a period of change or development, whether in the continuity of familial life ([7]) or the quick passage of personal transformation and emotional shifts ([8], [9]). In historical and epic narratives alike, “week” provides a succinct and relatable measure, grounding events in a time frame that is both concrete and metaphorically rich, as seen in examples ranging from military conquests ([10]) to the quiet cadence of daily community life ([11]).
- The next day Hurstwood said: “We owe the grocer five dollars and forty cents this week.”
— from Sister Carrie: A Novel by Theodore Dreiser - Once a week Jane's nurse had her evening off; and then it was Wendy's part to put Jane to bed.
— from Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie - Twice a week, by lamplight, there was choir practice in the church, for the learning of old carols Brangwen wanted to hear.
— from The Rainbow by D. H. Lawrence - During the following week the dead man was buried.
— from Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen by H. C. Andersen - ‘Oh sir!’ cried the bride, ‘If you have come here to do her any good, why weren’t you here a week ago?’
— from The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens - ‘I have not been here a week tomorrow, without considering that too, my dear,’ she returned.
— from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens - I don't let the girls hev coffee only once a week, accordin to your wish, and keep em on plain wholesome vittles.
— from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott - My fancy never lasted longer than a week, and often waned in three or four days, and the last comer always appeared the most worthy of my attentions.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova - Nearly a week had drifted by, and still the thing remained a vexed mystery.
— from The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson by Mark Twain - "The Prussians were three to one at Jena, and he took their army and kingdom in a week.
— from Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray - Of course, I easily obtained work, and, at the end of the week—which by the way was exceedingly fine I brought Master Hugh nearly nine dollars.
— from My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass
