Literary notes about insecurity (AI summary)
In literature, "insecurity" is a versatile term that encapsulates both internal emotional states and external conditions of instability. Authors use it to reveal a character’s inner vulnerability and uncertainty—for instance, when a protagonist senses the precariousness of his personal or social standing [1][2][3]—while other texts relate it to tangible, often political or economic, shortcomings that undermine safety and order [4][5][6]. At times, the word even connotes a broader existential unease, permeating both the psyche and the physical environment, as seen in discussions of individual and collective disquiet [7][8]. This layered usage of "insecurity" effectively illustrates the complex interplay between personal feelings and worldly conditions across a rich spectrum of literary works.
- This recalled what he had forgotten, and he realized the insecurity of his position.
— from The Flirt by Booth Tarkington - A sense of loneliness and insecurity oppressed me sadly.
— from My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass - She had a sort of foreboding that her new friend had not spoken without reason, a feeling of insecurity as though something were impending over her.
— from Constance Dunlap by Arthur B. (Arthur Benjamin) Reeve - A partial consequence of this insecurity of resources is the instability of natural races.
— from Introduction to the Science of Sociology by E. W. Burgess and Robert Ezra Park - Dismay, insecurity, paralysis, prevailed in regions that might, under happier auspices, have kept a nation alive through the most exhausting war.
— from The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783 by A. T. Mahan - The country was never thoroughly peopled after the reconquest, and the sense of insecurity remained long after the cause of it had been removed.
— from Spain by Wentworth Webster - That sleepless torture, he tells himself, is nothing but the sense of insecurity and the fear of retaliation.
— from Shakespearean Tragedy: Lectures on Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth by A. C. Bradley - I must confess the stress and danger of the time have left an abiding sense of doubt and insecurity in my mind.
— from The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells
