Theme: despair
Pride and Prejudice / Survival Anxiety
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 ...
Frankenstein / Creator and Creature
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...
Frankenstein / Revenge and Survival
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...
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Shadows on the Bridge
The bridge was covered with black, agitated shadows. The poor creatures were crowding the ratlines, clinging to the masts, struggling under the water.
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Courage and Despair
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...
Frankenstein / Juxtaposition of Innocence
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...
The War of the Worlds / Struggle and Despair
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...
Frankenstein / Desolation and Vulnerability
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, ...
Frankenstein / Sisterly Sacrifice
You, my playfellow, my companion, my sister, perish on the scaffold! I never could survive so horrible a misfortune.” Justine shook her head mournfull...
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Echoes of Despair
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...
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Heroic Suffering
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 ...
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes / Domestic Chaos
“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...
Frankenstein / Emotional Resilience
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...
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes / Art and Darkness
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...
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Colorless Existence
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...
The War of the Worlds / Hope Amid Destruction
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...
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Desperation at Sea
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...