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Literary notes about reflection (AI summary)

Literature employs the term "reflection" in multifaceted ways, ranging from a moment of introspection to the literal mirroring of images. In many works, it describes a pause for thoughtful deliberation—a meditative state where characters assess their experiences or moral choices ([1], [2], [3]). At other times, it denotes a physical phenomenon, as when a character gazes into a pond or mirror and sees not only their visage but an altered, often surprising, image of themselves ([4], [5], [6]). Moreover, reflection is invoked in philosophical settings to suggest the process by which sensory information is transformed into deeper insights, underscoring the interplay between appearance and inner truth ([7], [8], [9]). In this manner, writers use "reflection" to add layers of meaning, enriching both narrative technique and character development ([10], [11], [12]).
  1. A moment's reflection shewed her the mistake she had been under.
    — from Persuasion by Jane Austen
  2. Master Charles Bates, appalled by Sikes's crime, fell into a train of reflection whether an honest life was not, after all, the best.
    — from Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
  3. If, on reflection, I find I have fallen into no great absurdity, I shall try to forgive you; but it was not right.”
    — from Jane Eyre: An Autobiography by Charlotte Brontë
  4. When he recovered himself he had a sense that he was staring at the reflection of a stranger.
    — from The Best Short Stories of 1917, and the Yearbook of the American Short Story
  5. But the time was long to him, and he looked at the reflection of his face on the surface of the water.
    — from Household Tales by Brothers Grimm by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm
  6. There was a flash of lightning on the right, and, like a reflection in the looking-glass, at once a second flash in the distance.
    — from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
  7. If the subject matter gets the better of the creation, the result is a mere replica of the event, not a reflection of it through the Artist's mind.
    — from My Reminiscences by Rabindranath Tagore
  8. But the impressions of reflection resolve themselves into our passions and emotions: none of which can possibly represent a substance.
    — from A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume
  9. Passion and presumptuous ignorance joining hands tried to oppose wisdom from on high, and have left behind only a faint reflection of it.”
    — from Travels in the Central Parts of Indo-China (Siam), Cambodia, and Laos (Vol. 1 of 2) by Henri Mouhot
  10. ATHENIAN: Upon reflection I see a way of imposing the law, which, in one respect, is easy, but, in another, is of the utmost difficulty.
    — from Laws by Plato
  11. I A very little quiet reflection was enough to satisfy Emma as to the nature of her agitation on hearing this news of Frank Churchill.
    — from Emma by Jane Austen
  12. she said, suddenly, after some minutes’ reflection.
    — from Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

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