Literary notes about impulsive (AI summary)
Authors use the term impulsive to evoke a sense of unpremeditated passion or instinctive reaction that often stands in stark contrast to deliberate, thoughtful conduct. In narrative prose, characters are frequently defined by a sudden burst of emotion or an uncalculated decision—such as when a beloved character’s capricious behavior masks darker deeds [1] or when a distinctive foreign lilt hints at both spontaneity and otherness [2]. The word further serves to illustrate inherent tensions between fevered, impulsive actions and the measured dictates of reason, whether it be in declarations of love made in a stirring moment [3] or in reflections on morality that juxtapose conscious deliberation with unreflective impulse [4]. Thus, impulsiveness is not only a descriptor of temperament but also a literary device that deepens our understanding of a character’s inner life and unpredictable nature [5] [6].
- We have reduced it to a little harmless heap of ashes; and our dear impulsive Rachel will never know what we have done!
— from The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins - Even after she learned to speak English readily, there was always something impulsive and foreign in her speech.
— from My Ántonia by Willa Cather - But in an impulsive moment, purely out of reparation, he proposed to make her his wife.
— from The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy - Equally serious is the fact that a split is set up between conscious thought and attention and impulsive blind affection and desire.
— from Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education by John Dewey - My own mistake arose, naturally enough, through too careless, too inquisitive, and too impulsive a temperament.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition by Edgar Allan Poe - Experience is in truth a matter of activities, instinctive and impulsive, in their interactions with things.
— from Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education by John Dewey
