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Literary notes about His (AI summary)

The pronoun “his” serves as a concise marker of possession and identity in literature, imbuing narratives with details that reveal character traits, relationships, and inherited legacies. For instance, authors use “his” to attribute ideas and actions to a male protagonist—as in Wodehouse’s witty reference to “this fire-alarm scheme of his” [1] and Fitzgerald’s portrayal of a character’s personal care “wetting his hands in the damp” [2]. It also underlines habitual or traditional behaviors, such as offering “his accustomed sacrifices” [3] or safeguarding “his christening gift” [4]. In historical and biblical narratives, “his” connects lineage and authority, whether in the context of royal succession [5, 6] or in expositions of inherited customs [7, 8]. Thus, across a range of genres—from satire and romance to sacred texts and historical recounting—“his” functions not only as a possessive pronoun but as a subtle tool for deepening character backgrounds and interweaving cultural continuity.
  1. When he had first mooted this fire-alarm scheme of his, I had sat upon it, if you remember, with the maximum of promptitude and vigour.
    — from Right Ho, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse
  2. “Damn it all,” he whispered aloud, wetting his hands in the damp and running them through his hair.
    — from This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald
  3. He also offered his accustomed sacrifices and burnt- offerings upon the altar.
    — from Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus
  4. When he left home, his mother put his christening gift in his pocket, and charged him to keep it as safe as the apple of his eye, and Pärtel did so.
    — from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson
  5. .That is, Josaphat being yet alive, who sometime before his death made his son Joram king, as David had done before by his own son Solomon.
    — from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete
  6. True to his word he did come back shortly, and went to the princess.
    — from Folk-Tales of Bengal by Lal Behari Day
  7. And he said to his people: Behold the people of the children of Israel are numerous and stronger than we.
    — from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete
  8. And if he vow the field of his possession, and consecrate it to the Lord, the price shall be rated according to the measure of the seed.
    — from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete

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