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Literary notes about provocation (AI summary)

Writers often use "provocation" to signal that small or seemingly trivial stimuli can ignite significant or disproportionate responses. The term functions both as a catalyst for emotional outbursts and as a device to explore the limits of self-control. In certain narratives, characters are shown reacting violently or impulsively at the slightest provocation, emphasizing the fragility of their temperaments, as when a minor remark quickly escalates into a full-blown conflict [1][2][3]. In other contexts, provocation carries a weightier moral or philosophical charge, serving as a pretext for justifying actions or probing the boundaries between reason and passion [4][5][6]. Overall, this versatility allows authors to delve into the interplay between external triggers and internal vulnerabilities, highlighting how even insignificant insults may unleash profound consequences [7][8].
  1. The slightest provocation, even being asked if there is anything he would prefer for dinner, causes him to express a wish for a separation.
    — from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
  2. He not only struck me first, but struck me without the least provocation.
    — from History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding
  3. I go into the drawing-room, and, all of a sudden, without the least provocation: ‘Spy!’
    — from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
  4. While it is said: To day, if you shall hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in that provocation.
    — from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete
  5. It must be confessed that there is provocation for it.
    — from Introduction to the Science of Sociology by E. W. Burgess and Robert Ezra Park
  6. France still seemed to submit, but she was biding her time, and preparing warily a severe stroke for which she had now ample provocation.
    — from The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783 by A. T. Mahan
  7. I told him he had insulted me, and had given the provocation, by first striking me.
    — from The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African by Equiano
  8. This doctrine is, that provocation may reduce an offence which would otherwise have been murder to manslaughter.
    — from The Common Law by Oliver Wendell Holmes

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