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Theme: despair

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Frankenstein / Loss and Friendship

Author: Mary Shelley (Gutenberg)  | Themes: hope, despair, grief, friendship, existentialism  | Source: Project Gutenberg  | Published: 2026-03-14

I once had a friend, the most noble of human creatures, and am entitled, therefore, to judge respecting friendship. You have hope, and the world befor...
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Frankenstein / Existential Burden

Author: Mary Shelley (Gutenberg)  | Themes: creator vs creation, isolation, hubris, despair, nature's power  | Source: Project Gutenberg  | Published: 2026-03-12

If I were engaged in any high undertaking or design, fraught with extensive utility to my fellow creatures, then could I live to fulfil it. But such i...
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Frankenstein / Nature and Isolation

Author: Mary Shelley (Gutenberg)  | Themes: suffering, nature, existentialism, solitude, despair  | Source: Project Gutenberg  | Published: 2026-03-11

stars and clouds and winds, ye are all about to mock me; if ye really pity me, crush sensation and memory; let me become as nought; but if not, depart...
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The War of the Worlds / Desolation and Isolation

Author: H.G. Wells (Gutenberg)  | Themes: isolation, despair, silence, vulnerability, existential struggle  | Source: Project Gutenberg  | Published: 2026-03-01

I sat about in the darkness of the scullery, in a state of despondent wretchedness. I thought I had become deaf, for the noises of movement I had been...
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Frankenstein / Psychological Turmoil

Author: Mary Shelley (Gutenberg)  | Themes: fear, trauma, mental illness, despair, isolation  | Source: Project Gutenberg  | Published: 2026-02-26

Save me!” I imagined that the monster seized me; I struggled furiously and fell down in a fit. A meeting, which he anticipated with such joy, so stran...
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The War of the Worlds / Social Disarray

Author: H.G. Wells (Gutenberg)  | Themes: disillusionment, class divide, societal upheaval, alienation, despair  | Source: Project Gutenberg  | Published: 2026-02-26

And as they advanced towards Barnet a tumultuous murmuring grew stronger. For the most part these were staring before them, murmuring indistinct quest...
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Frankenstein / Condemnations Weight

Author: Mary Shelley (Gutenberg)  | Themes: injustice, despair, societal judgment, power dynamics, emotional turmoil  | Source: Project Gutenberg  | Published: 2026-02-23

The ballots had been thrown; they were all black, and Justine was condemned. I had before experienced sensations of horror, and I have endeavoured to ...
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Frankenstein / Imprisoned Hope

Author: Mary Shelley (Gutenberg)  | Themes: despair, familial bonds, isolation, longing, resilience  | Source: Project Gutenberg  | Published: 2026-02-22

I stretched out my hand to him and cried, “Are you then safe—and Elizabeth—and Ernest?” My father calmed me with assurances of their welfare and endea...
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Frankenstein / Desolation and Despair

Author: Mary Shelley (Gutenberg)  | Themes: isolation, despair, loyalty, survival, nature's indifference  | Source: Project Gutenberg  | Published: 2026-02-06

The cold is excessive, and many of my unfortunate comrades have already found a grave amidst this scene of desolation. Frankenstein has daily declined...
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Pride and Prejudice / Survival Anxiety

Author: Jane Austen (Gutenberg)  | Themes: social status, gender roles, inheritance, family duty, emotional despair  | Source: Project Gutenberg  | Published: 2026-01-28

Let us flatter ourselves that _I_ may be the survivor.” This was not very consoling to Mrs. Bennet; and, therefore, instead of making any answer, she ...
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Frankenstein / Creator and Creature

Author: Mary Shelley (Gutenberg)  | Themes: alienation, responsibility, identity, despair, injustice  | Source: Project Gutenberg  | Published: 2026-01-25

I did not know the names of the towns that I was to pass through, nor could I ask information from a single human being; but I did not despair. From y...
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Frankenstein / Revenge and Survival

Author: Mary Shelley (Gutenberg)  | Themes: mortality, revenge, conflict, despair, resilience  | Source: Project Gutenberg  | Published: 2026-01-24

How I have lived I hardly know; many times have I stretched my failing limbs upon the sandy plain and prayed for death. But revenge kept me alive; I d...
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Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Shadows on the Bridge

Author: Jules Verne (Gutenberg)  | Themes: despair, struggle, marginalization, survival, hope  | Source: Project Gutenberg  | Published: 2026-01-19

The bridge was covered with black, agitated shadows. The poor creatures were crowding the ratlines, clinging to the masts, struggling under the water.
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A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Courage and Despair

Author: Jules Verne (Gutenberg)  | Themes: courage, despair, exploration, inner conflict, resilience  | Source: Project Gutenberg  | Published: 2026-01-14

Would that we now stood on the summit of the crater." "Go back," said my uncle, speaking to himself, "and must it be so?" "Go back--yes, and without l...
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Frankenstein / Juxtaposition of Innocence

Author: Mary Shelley (Gutenberg)  | Themes: fatigue, innocence, nature, despair, youth  | Source: Project Gutenberg  | Published: 2026-01-11

I was oppressed by fatigue and hunger and far too unhappy to enjoy the gentle breezes of evening or the prospect of the sun setting behind the stupend...
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The War of the Worlds / Struggle and Despair

Author: H.G. Wells (Gutenberg)  | Themes: morality, despair, brutality, human nature, psychological conflict  | Source: Project Gutenberg  | Published: 2026-01-06

As the days wore on, his utter carelessness of any consideration so intensified our distress and danger that I had, much as I loathed doing it, to res...
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Frankenstein / Desolation and Vulnerability

Author: Mary Shelley (Gutenberg)  | Themes: isolation, fear, despair, nature, emotional turmoil  | Source: Project Gutenberg  | Published: 2026-01-03

dark when I awoke; I felt cold also, and half frightened, as it were, instinctively, finding myself so desolate. Before I had quitted your apartment, ...
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Frankenstein / Sisterly Sacrifice

Author: Mary Shelley (Gutenberg)  | Themes: sacrifice, despair, faith, innocence, loyalty  | Source: Project Gutenberg  | Published: 2026-01-03

You, my playfellow, my companion, my sister, perish on the scaffold! I never could survive so horrible a misfortune.” Justine shook her head mournfull...
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Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Echoes of Despair

Author: Jules Verne (Gutenberg)  | Themes: isolation, communication, uncertainty, hope, despair  | Source: Project Gutenberg  | Published: 2025-12-16

help!” Our movements were suspended for an instant; we listened. It might be only a singing in the ear, but it seemed to me as if a cry answered the c...
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A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Heroic Suffering

Author: Jules Verne (Gutenberg)  | Themes: sacrifice, familial bonds, despair, resignation, human struggle  | Source: Project Gutenberg  | Published: 2025-12-16

But at last the time came when my limbs refused to carry me longer. I contended heroically against the terrible tortures I endured, because I did not ...
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The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes / Domestic Chaos

Author: Arthur Conan Doyle (Gutenberg)  | Themes: upheaval, urgency, betrayal, hope, despair  | Source: Project Gutenberg  | Published: 2025-12-05

“All is lost.” “We shall see.” He pushed past the servant and rushed into the drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was scatter...
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Frankenstein / Emotional Resilience

Author: Mary Shelley (Gutenberg)  | Themes: joy, despair, human experience, resilience, love of life  | Source: Project Gutenberg  | Published: 2025-12-05

Almost spent, as I was, by fatigue and the dreadful suspense I endured for several hours, this sudden certainty of life rushed like a flood of warm jo...
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The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes / Art and Darkness

Author: Arthur Conan Doyle (Gutenberg)  | Themes: urban despair, companionship, moral ambiguity, fleeting solace, art as escape  | Source: Project Gutenberg  | Published: 2025-11-27

Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a sinister result for C. We...
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A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Colorless Existence

Author: Jules Verne (Gutenberg)  | Themes: isolation, stagnation, environmental despair, emotional barrenness, existential melancholy  | Source: Project Gutenberg  | Published: 2025-11-22

Upon their borders grew small treelike shrubs, such as are seen in the hot countries on our own inhabited globe. The one thing wanting in these plants...
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The War of the Worlds / Hope Amid Destruction

Author: H.G. Wells (Gutenberg)  | Themes: hope, despair, divine judgment, destruction, existential struggle  | Source: Project Gutenberg  | Published: 2025-11-17

Plentiful hope—for all this destruction!” I began to explain my view of our position. He listened at first, but as I went on the interest dawning in h...
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Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Desperation at Sea

Author: Jules Verne (Gutenberg)  | Themes: freedom, despair, exploration, nature, colonialism  | Source: Project Gutenberg  | Published: 2025-11-16

But on the 11th of April it rose suddenly, and land appeared at the mouth of the Amazon River, a vast estuary, the embouchure of which is so considera...