Literary notes about unconcerned (AI summary)
Literary authors often use the word unconcerned to portray characters or settings that mask inner emotions with a façade of calm detachment. In some works, a character’s seemingly indifferent exterior belies an undercurrent of internal conflict, as when one strives to appear nonchalant despite palpable discomfort [1] or even masks deeper worries behind a cool demeanor [2]. At other times, unconcerned is employed to suggest that a person or even nature itself maintains a steady, almost automatic composure in the face of dramatic events, as when a vessel journeys through ruins without haste [3] or when a pony ambles along in quiet passivity [4]. This nuanced use of the term adds layers to both character development and atmospheric description throughout literature [5][6][7].
- Emma made no answer, and tried to look cheerfully unconcerned, but was really feeling uncomfortable and wanting him very much to be gone.
— from Emma by Jane Austen - I had to pretend to be calm and unconcerned when I was consumed with passion.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova - Meanwhile, briskly unconcerned, the Nautilus ran at full propeller through the midst of these ruins.
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World by Jules Verne - The tall lank pony seemed used to such doings, and ambled along unconcerned.
— from Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy - He appeared to be an unconcerned party, and yet he perfectly well knew what was going on between us.
— from A Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne - The husband, a socialist shoemaker, a little hairy man, the perfect image of a monkey, murmured quite unconcerned: “Well, what next?
— from Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant - And while they accused Herod of injuries, and plunderings, and subversions of temples, he stood unconcerned, and was ready to make his defense.
— from Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus