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Literary notes about point (AI summary)

The word "point" is remarkably versatile in literary usage, serving as a marker of both physical and abstract delineations. It can designate a literal starting place or location, as when a journey is set in motion at a geographic extremity [1] or when it describes a precise landmark from which descent is made [2]. At times, it denotes a decisive moment or turning moment in time, such as marking the beginning of a significant change in one’s life [3] or a critical juncture in a narrative [4]. Equally, "point" is deployed to emphasize an idea or argument, whether to underscore the importance of kindness [5] or to indicate the central thesis in a discussion [6]. The word also extends to abstract reference, pinpointing a particular perspective or a piece of evidence that supports a larger argument [7] or clarifying a debated stance [8]. This linguistic flexibility allows authors, from Victor Hugo to Plato, to evoke both concrete and conceptual dimensions in their works.
  1. His real starting point was on the extremest outskirts of the earth, where only the hunter and yassak-collector had preceded him.
    — from Vitus Bering: the Discoverer of Bering Strait by Peter Lauridsen
  2. They had selected this point to make their descent, having borne the canoe through the wood around the cataract for that purpose.
    — from The Last of the Mohicans; A narrative of 1757 by James Fenimore Cooper
  3. Her residence in London at this time marks a turning point in her career and the real beginning of her literary life.
    — from English Literature by William J. Long
  4. Twenty times we seemed on the point of being upset and hurled headlong into the waves.
    — from A Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne
  5. They feel that he ought not to be made to suffer for what is clearly not his fault, and make a point of being specially kind to him.
    — from Man and Superman: A Comedy and a Philosophy by Bernard Shaw
  6. Remember that this is the essential point in my method—Do not teach the child many things, but never to let him form inaccurate or confused ideas.
    — from Emile by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
  7. Was her point of view the only possible one with regard to this marriage?
    — from Middlemarch by George Eliot
  8. We shall have occasion to come back to this point in our conclusion.
    — from The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life by Émile Durkheim

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