Literary notes about confront (AI summary)
In literature the term “confront” is employed to convey a direct encounter with formidable challenges—whether these be tangible adversaries or internal conflicts. Writers use it to indicate moments when characters must meet their foes head-on, as seen in high-stakes duels ([1], [2]) and even in the quiet intensity of personal reckoning ([3], [4]). Sometimes it describes the inevitable clash with external forces like the relentless pressures of society or nature ([5], [6]), while at other times it marks an intellectual or moral struggle in which ideas or emotions collide ([7], [8]). This versatility in usage enriches the narrative, imbuing both physical encounters and introspective battles with a sense of urgency and dynamism.
- ‘Confront me with him,’ said Mr. Pickwick, ‘that is all I ask, and all I require.
— from The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens - The prosecutor turned to Nikolay Parfenovitch and said to him impressively: “Confront him with it.”
— from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - I clenched my teeth hard, staring into the mirror and trying to force myself to turn and confront, not the reflection, but the reality.
— from The Haunting of Low Fennel by Sax Rohmer - I felt willing rather to starve at sea than to confront such perils.
— from Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson - But until now life had chosen to confront him with no problem more pressing than one of cricket or hunting.
— from The Best Short Stories of 1917, and the Yearbook of the American Short Story - Next he seeks the battle and extinguishes it within himself because weariness and boredom confront him.
— from Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche - Thus, you see what doubts here confront the practical application of our interpretation.
— from A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud - He turned to confront his antagonist, and behold, there stood his old master's next door neighbor!
— from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself by Harriet A. Jacobs