Literary notes about relinquish (AI summary)
In literature, the term "relinquish" is employed to express the act of giving up something cherished, planned, or deemed essential—with varying shades of reluctance or resolve. It appears in contexts where physical habits or ideals are bound up with one's identity, as when Rousseau alludes to the indispensable role of bodily labour in life [1]. At other times, it conveys a strategic or moral forfeiture, as when a character must abandon an impracticable design or a cherished scheme in the face of unavoidable circumstances [2][3][4]. Whether reflecting the emotional weight of renouncing personal pride or the pragmatic necessity of surrendering claims and rights [5][6], "relinquish" serves as a powerful literary tool to underscore the tension between personal attachment and the demands of duty or fate.
- An active life, bodily labour, exercise, movement, have become so essential to him that he could not relinquish them without suffering.
— from Emile by Jean-Jacques Rousseau - In a more serious tone, the father of Ali advised his nephew to relinquish his impracticable design.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - I was grievously disappointed, but I promised to relinquish my project.
— from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself by Harriet A. Jacobs - He was therefore forced to relinquish his plan.
— from Moby Dick; Or, The Whale by Herman Melville - Yet why did he not shoot himself then, why did he relinquish his design and even forget where his pistol was?
— from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - Please answer these questions, or relinquish your doctrine of the divinity of Jesus Christ.
— from The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors; Or, Christianity Before Christ by Kersey Graves
