Literary notes about unhinged (AI summary)
The term unhinged is deployed by writers to evoke a powerful sense of disarray—often referring to a profound mental or emotional breakdown, though it occasionally denotes a literal physical dislocation. Authors use unhinged to capture the deterioration of a character’s mind under intense stress, sorrow, or even the burden of overwhelming circumstances ([1], [2], [3], [4]). In other instances, the word is applied to inanimate objects like creaking, misaligned doors, symbolizing decay or a loss of control in the environment ([5], [6], [7]). Whether describing a soul destabilized by personal tragedy or a physical structure that has lost its proper alignment, unhinged remains a vivid literary device illustrating the collapse of order and stability ([8], [9], [10]).
- But the shock of all her trouble has left her mind unhinged, poor child.
— from A Thoughtless Yes by Helen H. (Helen Hamilton) Gardener - He is quite unhinged by serious illness—that’s the reason.”
— from Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - Her mind is quite unhinged, you see... from sorrow.
— from Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - [Pg 86] He always thought that on that day he was as mentally unhinged as a healthy young man can be.
— from Fairfax and His Pride: A Novel by Marie Van Vorst - The slight noise was due to the door of the study, which great age had distorted and bereft of sense, and, in fact, almost unhinged.
— from The Lion's Share by Arnold Bennett - Charles, with a fierce glance, ordered them back; the gates were unhinged and flung down; the royal army entered as in a conquered city.
— from The Story of Paris by Thomas Okey - During the night the stable door was unhinged and Beauregard taken, the news spreading through the neighborhood.
— from Two diaries From Middle St. John's, Berkeley, South Carolina, February-May, 1865 Journals kept by Miss Susan R. Jervey and Miss Charlotte St. J. Ravenel, at Northampton and Pooshee plantations, and reminiscences of Mrs. (Waring) Henagan; with two contemporary reports from federal officials. by Susan R. (Susan Ravenel) Jervey - I am overburdened—and you, too, are unhinged just now."
— from Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy - Here we have bookish dreams, a heart unhinged by theories.
— from Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - In a world thus unhinged, the masses groped for reason, for a scheme, for a method in the madness, for an explanation, however sinister and ominous.
— from After the Rain : how the West lost the East by Samuel Vaknin
