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Literary notes about impenitent (AI summary)

The term "impenitent" in literature often serves as a marker of unwavering defiance or moral steadfastness. In Kipling’s work, for example, it is used as an exclamation to emphasize a character's obstinate refusal to conform to expected religious or social norms ([1]). Chekhov employs the term in connection with death and finality, describing characters who face their end without remorse ([2], [3], [4]), thus imbuing the word with a somber, existential quality. Meanwhile, Dumas leverages its dramatic cadence to invoke a sense of doom and despair ([5]), and both Eliot and Shaw use it to question societal and judicial judgments, probing whether such unrepentance might be a justified stance even among public criminals or exemplary figures ([6], [7], [8]). Lastly, Wharton’s casual admission of being "absolutely impenitent" ([9]) highlights its modern, self-assured connotation, reflecting a confident nonconformity.
  1. 'You impenitent old heathen!'
    — from Kim by Rudyard Kipling
  2. He kept away from the church, to be sure, and died impenitent.
    — from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
  3. Panteley did nothing but sigh and complain of his feet, and continually alluded to impenitent deathbeds.
    — from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
  4. There is no worse evil than an impenitent death; an impenitent death is a joy to the devil.
    — from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
  5. Die, impenitent, die in despair, die and be damned!”
    — from Twenty years after by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet
  6. He was impenitent—but were not public criminals impenitent?—yet the law decided on their fate.
    — from Middlemarch by George Eliot
  7. She is as impenitent and self-assured a young lady as one would desire to see among the best behaved of her sex.
    — from Man and Superman: A Comedy and a Philosophy by Bernard Shaw
  8. He was impenitent—but were not public criminals impenitent?—yet the law decided on their fate.
    — from Middlemarch by George Eliot
  9. For I'm absolutely impenitent, you know.
    — from The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

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