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Literary notes about gibe (AI summary)

Literary authors often use "gibe" to depict those moments of acerbic wit or cutting mockery that reveal underlying tensions between characters. It functions as a sharp verbal barb—a playful yet stinging remark—that can both lighten a scene with humor and underscore emotional conflict. In some works, the gibe is delivered as a solitary, dismissive comment meant to unsettle or provoke ([1], [2]), while in others it punctuates a sustained verbal exchange, adding texture to character interplay as seen in classical texts like Homer's "The Iliad" ([3]) and Tolstoy’s narrative in "War and Peace" ([4]). Whether as a fleeting jibe that momentarily amuses or a recurring motif of derision that deepens the thematic fabric of the narrative, "gibe" remains a versatile and potent device in literature ([5], [6]).
  1. This was the only gibe Madame Riano threw at us during the whole journey.
    — from Francezka by Molly Elliot Seawell
  2. "However, I dare say you're right; it sounds so precisely like you that it's bound to hurt him more than any gibe."
    — from The Second Fiddle by Phyllis Bottome
  3. How dare you gibe at Agamemnon because the Danaans have awarded him so many prizes?
    — from The Iliad by Homer
  4. Whom have you got there dressed up as a Hungarian?” said the commander with an austere gibe.
    — from War and Peace by graf Leo Tolstoy
  5. a good gibe!” said Wamba; “keeping witty company sharpeneth the apprehension.
    — from Ivanhoe: A Romance by Walter Scott
  6. This is not a Gentile gibe; it is the position of a famous Anglo-Jewish physician, Dr. B
    — from The International Jew : The World's Foremost Problem by Anonymous

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