Literary notes about grip (AI summary)
The word "grip" in literature functions as both a concrete descriptor and a potent metaphor. Authors use it to depict a tangible hold—a character seizing another’s wrist or weapon, as seen when a figure clutches a pistol arm ([1]) or maintains an iron grip on life ([2])—while also conveying the idea of being emotionally or mentally captivated. At times, it represents the inescapable hold of societal forces or personal destiny, as when one is urged to break free from the time’s tight constraints ([3]) or once an idea has taken hold of the mind ([4]). In this way, "grip" bridges the physical and the abstract, illustrating both the strength of human contact and the compelling power of inner forces ([5], [6]).
- As he is reading them I will jump for him and get my grip on his pistol arm.
— from The Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle - He has the grip of a bulldog; when he once gets his teeth in, nothing can shake him off."
— from Pushing to the Front by Orison Swett Marden - It will require a determined heart and more than a little courage to wrench ourselves loose from the grip of our times and return to Biblical ways.
— from The Pursuit of God by A. W. Tozer - I will make it perfectly plain in a minute, when once I get my grip upon the story.
— from The Country of the Blind, and Other Stories by H. G. Wells - "I do not know if that was prophecy or desperation, Rilla, the horror of that dream holds me yet in an icy grip.
— from Rilla of Ingleside by L. M. Montgomery - Some hated thought seemed to have him in its grip, and to hold him so tightly that he could not advance.
— from Jane Eyre: An Autobiography by Charlotte Brontë
