Literary notes about cringing (AI summary)
The term "cringing" is often deployed by authors to illustrate both a physical and a metaphorical lowering—a posture of submission or degradation that reflects a character’s inner state. In some works, it vividly depicts a body bowed in abject humiliation or fear, as when a figure stoops in deference or retreats from power [1], [2]. In other narratives, it underscores a character’s internal struggle with self-respect, marking moments where timidity gives way to subservience or moral decay [3], [4]. At times the word encapsulates the paradox of yielding to authority while simultaneously betraying one’s dignity, serving as a succinct statement on the corrosive effects of societal pressure [5], [6].
- "Stay thou, my lad," abruptly he exclaimed— Wherewith another fall the countenance fell Of Shimei, cringing, to his footsteps glued.
— from The Epic of Paul by William Cleaver Wilkinson - White Fang crawled slowly, cringing and grovelling in the abjectness of his abasement and submission.
— from White Fang by Jack London - I discovered suddenly in his cringing attitude a sort of assurance, as though he had been all his life dealing in certitudes.
— from Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad - Then, what submission, what cringing and fawning, what servility, what abject humiliation!
— from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens - Self-respect, and a proper deference for our superiors in age or intellect, will be the best safeguards against either a cringing or insolent manner.
— from The Ladies' Book of Etiquette, and Manual of Politeness by Florence Hartley - The foreigner came here poor, beggarly, cringing, and subservient, ready to doff his cap to the meanest native of the household.
— from Ivanhoe: A Romance by Walter Scott
