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Literary notes about aversion (AI summary)

The word aversion in literature is often employed to evoke a profound, instinctual repugnance that can be as personal as it is symbolic. It is used to describe everything from a straightforward dislike—such as one character’s unconquerable aversion to learning Greek [1]—to the more complicated emotional and moral rejections present in social relationships and ideologies [2]. At times, aversion appears as a palpable, almost physical reaction, reflecting not only inner turmoil but also a broader commentary on human nature; one character’s avoidance of painful memories or figures illustrates this multifaceted response [3, 4]. Equally, some authors extend the concept of aversion to critique cultural or political constructs, suggesting that the sentiment itself can drive the rejection of outdated practices or imposed hierarchies [5, 6]. In these varied applications, aversion serves as a literary tool that deepens character development and emphasizes the tension between personal experience and societal expectation.
  1. At school I had an unconquerable aversion for the Greek language, so that I had to leave when I was in the fourth class.
    — from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
  2. And what if there can be no respect either, if on the contrary there is aversion, contempt, repulsion, what then?
    — from Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
  3. She had called him “Stiva,” and he glanced at her with gratitude, and moved to take her hand, but she drew back from him with aversion.
    — from Anna Karenina by graf Leo Tolstoy
  4. Never once in their dialogues did I hear a syllable of regret at the hospitality they had extended to me, or of suspicion of, or aversion to, myself.
    — from Jane Eyre: An Autobiography by Charlotte Brontë
  5. To such a deity warlike men should entertain no aversion, but they should honour him as being always the best friend of man.
    — from Laws by Plato
  6. His harebrained manner rendered him insupportable to me, and my coldness drew upon me his aversion.
    — from The Confessions of Jean Jacques Rousseau — Complete by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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