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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].
  1. 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
  2. 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
  3. 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
  4. The tall lank pony seemed used to such doings, and ambled along unconcerned.
    — from Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
  5. 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
  6. 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
  7. 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

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