Literary notes about sullenness (AI summary)
Across literary works, "sullenness" is often deployed as a multifaceted term that evokes a mood of withdrawn melancholy, obstinate discontent, and even defiant irritation. It frequently describes characters whose silence or facial expression reveals an inner turmoil or moral rigidity, as when habitual grins vanish to leave behind a look of persistent gloom ([1]) or when a character’s retort carries a trace of dogged reluctance ([2]). At times, the word is used to foreshadow impending conflict or to signal a transformation—from overt anger to a state of resigned dejection ([3],[4]). In this way, authors harness "sullenness" not merely as a descriptor of mood, but as an integral element that deepens and complicates character portrayals.
- Shortly after, when he sat down to his breakfast the grin had disappeared, but with it had gone the look of sullenness that had seemed habitual.
— from The Enchanted Canyon by Honoré Morrow - "I think you might have warned me," returned the other, with a touch of sullenness.
— from The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson - Their sons were also silent, but there was a sullenness in their silence that foretold the coming strife.
— from Brother Against Brother; or, The Tompkins Mystery. A Story of the Great American Rebellion. by John R. (John Roy) Musick - "That's just what I do mean," returned Trenor, his bluster sinking to sullenness under her look.
— from The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
