Literary notes about unwilling (AI summary)
In literature, "unwilling" operates as a versatile modifier that reveals a character’s internal resistance or hesitation, whether in small gestures or major decisions. Authors use it to convey everything from a reluctant smile or trust [1], [2] to an existential, almost cosmic avoidance, as when the sun appears "unwilling to look upon the earth" [3]. It also underscores moments of moral or emotional conflict, such as when revealing sensitive truths or accepting a burdensome fate [4], [5], [6]. In both characters and natural phenomena, "unwilling" enriches the text by hinting at deeper layers of reluctance, duty, or discomfort, adding nuance to interactions and narrative shifts [7], [8], [9].
- "He has a spirit of his own, as you know," said the father, with rather an unwilling smile.
— from A True Friend: A Novel by Adeline Sergeant - I asked, unwilling to suppose that she should so speak of her husband.
— from Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë - During the whole summer the sun had been hid behind the clouds, as if unwilling to look upon the earth.
— from The Oera Linda Book, from a Manuscript of the Thirteenth Century - But I was unwilling to lose a fine idea from my mind.
— from The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb — Volume 2 by Charles Lamb and Mary Lamb - Unwilling to alarm her mistress, Betty resolved to dispose of me herself.
— from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself by Harriet A. Jacobs - Let us at once say again what we have already said a hundred times, for people's ears nowadays are unwilling to hear such truths—OUR truths.
— from Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche - We are all of us more or less unwilling to be brought into the world.
— from The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins - He forces it from the unwilling witness, and hears the maddening tale of Cassio's dream.
— from Shakespearean Tragedy: Lectures on Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth by A. C. Bradley - How can you be so fond of your dog that you are unwilling to part with him to save your life?
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson
