Literary notes about apprehensiveness (AI summary)
Literary works employ "apprehensiveness" to evoke a spectrum of inner unease and anticipatory anxiety, subtly exposing characters' internal conflicts and sensitivities. It can denote a natural wariness rooted in instinct, as when a character tempers his innate fear with practicality [1], or hint at deeper, more pervasive insecurity that colors a person’s entire demeanor [2]. At times, this feeling is portrayed as a transient state that evolves into resolve or even bravado [3][4], while in other contexts it contributes to a richly layered expression of personality, intertwining a cautious, almost endearing vulnerability with hints of darker dread [5][6]. In brief moments of dialogue and reflection, apprehensiveness becomes a nuanced marker of human frailty, elegantly balancing fear with the possibility of courage [7].
- His natural apprehensiveness of danger was tempered by a strong instinct of what was possible in an emergency.
— from Toilers of the Sea by Victor Hugo - Cowper knew, for he too was an apprehensive mortal, and it is only the apprehensive mortal who really knows the full folly of his apprehensiveness.
— from Pebbles on the shore [by] Alpha of the plough by A. G. (Alfred George) Gardiner - The bridegroom's mood was entirely different from his sombre apprehensiveness of the previous evening.
— from The Matador of the Five Towns and Other Stories by Arnold Bennett - Now that the Squire’s gaze showed that he understood the situation, Hiram’s apprehensiveness gave place to bravado.
— from Squire Phin by Holman Day - He had an air at once amiable and baddish, with an expression, curiously blended, of monkey-like humor and spaniel-like apprehensiveness.
— from The Lady of the Aroostook by William Dean Howells - The result is a subtle quality of apprehensiveness in the atmosphere of the silent empty city.
— from The Western FrontDrawings by Muirhead Bone - He spoke lightly to reassure us, but it was easy to detect a vein of apprehensiveness behind his light tone.
— from A Tale of Red Pekin by Constancia Serjeant
