Theme: isolation
The War of the Worlds / Isolation and Fear
After eating we crept back to the scullery, and there I must have dozed again, for when presently I looked round I was alone. The thudding vibration c...
Gulliver's Travels / Resourcefulness and Ingenuity
I once prevailed on the barber to give me some of the suds or lather, out of which I picked forty or fifty of the strongest stumps of hair. I then too...
The War of the Worlds / Desolation and Resilience
Far away I saw a gaunt cat slink crouchingly along a wall, but traces of men there were none. The day seemed, by contrast with my recent confinement, ...
Dracula / Decay and Allure
None of the others had met the Count at all at close quarters, and when I had seen him he was either in the fasting stage of his existence in his room...
Frankenstein / Existential Burden
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...
Dracula / Fear of Intrusion
Keeping my cab at the gate, I went up the avenue alone. I knocked gently and rang as quietly as possible, for I feared to disturb Lucy or her mother, ...
Frankenstein / Natures Obstacles
There were no horses to be procured, and I must return by the lake; but the wind was unfavourable, and the rain fell in torrents. However, it was hard...
Frankenstein / Vengeance and Isolation
Again do I vow vengeance; again do I devote thee, miserable fiend, to torture and death. Never will I give up my search until he or I perish; and then...
Frankenstein / Natures Sublime Power
He bounded over the crevices in the ice, among which I had walked with caution; his stature, also, as he approached, seemed to exceed that of man. I w...
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Law and Loss
He was looking at the ship, which was five or six miles to leeward. He was going round it like a wild beast, and, drawing it eastward, he allowed them...
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Nautilus and Nature
“Certainly,” he replied; “since the reservoirs are not empty; and, when empty, the _Nautilus_ must rise to the surface of the sea.” We were in open se...
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Immovable Barriers
It was no longer either streams, packs, or ice-fields, but an interminable and immovable barrier, formed by mountains soldered together. I knew that t...
The War of the Worlds / Desolation and Isolation
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...
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Electric Timekeeping
Now look at this clock; it is electrical, and goes with a regularity that defies the best chronometers. I have divided it into twenty-four hours, like...
Frankenstein / Psychological Turmoil
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...
Wuthering Heights / Moorland Reflections
One time I passed the old gate, going out of my way, on a journey to Gimmerton. It was about the period that my narrative has reached: a bright frosty...
Dracula / Loneliness and Hope
He took my hands and raised me up, and made me sit on the sofa, and sat by me; he held my hand in his, and said to me with, oh, such infinite sweetnes...
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Natures Peril
But if this awful noise proceeds from a cataract--if, so to speak in plain English, this vast interior ocean is precipitated into a lower basin--if th...
Frankenstein / Steeple of Isolation
At length the high white steeple of the town met my eyes. I alighted and was conducted to my solitary apartment to spend the evening as I pleased. The...
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Existential Suffering
My occasional delirium prevented me from counting time. I was weeks recovering from that awful starvation adventure; and yet what was that to the hide...
Frankenstein / Imprisoned Hope
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...
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Unexpected Encounter
I felt lightened of the load which had oppressed me, and was able to return with some degree of calmness to my accustomed work. That night, about elev...
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes / Urban Isolation
I came to Baker Street by the Underground and hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this snow. That is why I was so out of breath...
Frankenstein / Yearning for Connection
I asked, it is true, for greater treasures than a little food or rest: I required kindness and sympathy; but I did not believe myself utterly unworthy...
The War of the Worlds / Alien Communication
And I assert that I watched them closely time after time, and that I have seen four, five, and (once) six of them sluggishly performing the most elabo...
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Defiance in Darkness
“I would drown first.” Just then the moon appeared through the fringes of a thick cloud that the wind was driving to the east. She was five miles from...
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Nature versus Technology
Besides, to work was to quit the _Nautilus_, and breathe directly the pure air drawn from the reservoirs, and supplied by our apparatus, and to quit t...
Dracula / Life and Numbers
I scolded him for it, but he argued quietly that it was very good and very wholesome; that it was life, strong life, and gave life to him. He has evid...
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Depths of Mystery
I felt them put an iron-pointed stick into my hand, and some minutes later, after going through the usual form, we set foot on the bottom of the Atlan...
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Subterranean Discoveries
This unexpected capture enabled us to renew our stock of provisions in a very satisfactory way. We were now convinced that this subterranean sea conta...
Frankenstein / Leadership and Integrity
This circumstance, added to his well-known integrity and dauntless courage, made me very desirous to engage him. A youth passed in solitude, my best y...
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Journeys Anticipation
My uncle came out of his cabin pale, haggard, thin, but full of enthusiasm, his eyes dilated with pleasure and satisfaction. Nearly the whole populati...
Gulliver's Travels / Power and Perception
However, since the king was pleased to allow me access to his royal person, I was resolved, upon the very first occasion, to deliver my opinion to him...
Frankenstein / Desolation and Despair
The cold is excessive, and many of my unfortunate comrades have already found a grave amidst this scene of desolation. Frankenstein has daily declined...
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Resilience in Desolation
My arms are right--but my legs are getting a little stiff." All this while we were advancing at a rapid pace. The country we had reached was already n...
Gulliver's Travels / Power and Governance
I was curious to know how this prince, to whose dominions there is no access from any other country, came to think of armies, or to teach his people t...
Pride and Prejudice / Longing and Separation
They were confined for the evening at different tables; and she had nothing to hope, but that his eyes were so often turned towards her side of the ro...
Frankenstein / Descent and Liberation
I walked and, I believe, descended, but I presently found a great alteration in my sensations. Before, dark and opaque bodies had surrounded me, imper...
Gulliver's Travels / Imperial Vulnerability
The empress’s apartment on fire by an accident; the author instrumental in saving the rest of the palace. The empire of Blefuscu is an island situated...
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Vigilance at Sea
I leave you to judge how eyes were used on board the _Abraham Lincoln_. For my own part I was not behind the others, and left to no one my share of da...
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Man vs Nature
As we are totally incapable of steering our frail craft, we shall become the mere plaything of the storm, and it is acting the part of madmen if we, a...
Around the World in Eighty Days / Mormon Society Insight
They saw few or no churches, but the prophet’s mansion, the court-house, and the arsenal, blue-brick houses with verandas and porches, surrounded by g...
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Frozen Frontiers
To the east one only existed somewhere about the eightieth degree of latitude, the Esk, upon the island of Jan Mayen, not far from the frozen regions ...
Gulliver's Travels / Isolation and Discovery
Three days after my arrival, walking out of curiosity to the north-east coast of the island, I observed, about half a league off in the sea, somewhat ...
The War of the Worlds / Domestic Dread
I startled my wife at the doorway, so haggard was I. I went into the dining room, sat down, drank some wine, and so soon as I could collect myself suf...
Gulliver's Travels / Observation and Folly
That he laughed at their folly, and went himself in the boat, ordering his men to take a strong cable along with them. That the weather being calm, he...
Frankenstein / Alienation and Identity
The gentle words of Agatha and the animated smiles of the charming Arabian were not for me. The mild exhortations of the old man and the lively conver...
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Echoes of Solitude
Still it was a positive fact that someone was speaking. A dread fell upon my soul that it might be my own words brought back to me by a distant echo. ...
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Granite Majesty
At last, after about four hours, this marvellous excursion came to an end. A wall of superb rocks, in an imposing mass, rose before us, a heap of giga...
Gulliver's Travels / Observing Power
and, the space being so wide between that and the palace, I could easily view it on every side.
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Emotional Isolation
I prepared to execute my self-allotted task--not, it must be confessed, without considerable emotion. After a hearty repast, my uncle and the hunter-g...
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Depth and Dependence
“Let us remain together until we are out of this block.” “As you please, sir,” Conseil replied. I often looked at the instruments hanging from the par...
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Depths of Discovery
We had attained a depth of 16,000 yards (four leagues), and the sides of the _Nautilus_ then bore a pressure of 1,600 atmospheres, that is to say, 3,2...
Frankenstein / Creators Horror
I started from my sleep with horror; a cold dew covered my forehead, my teeth chattered, and every limb became convulsed; when, by the dim and yellow ...
Gulliver's Travels / Voyages and Encounters
In the mean time, I here conclude the second part of my unfortunate voyages. A VOYAGE TO LAPUTA, BALNIBARBI, GLUBBDUBDRIB, LUGGNAGG AND JAPAN. I had n...
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Secrets of the Deep
The chest was securely fastened, and the Captain wrote an address on the lid, in characters which must have belonged to Modern Greece. This done, Capt...
Frankenstein / Fear of Knowledge
He soon perceived that I disliked the subject; but not guessing the real cause, he attributed my feelings to modesty, and changed the subject from my ...
Gulliver's Travels / Curiosity and Fear
The weather being very warm, the closet-window was left open, as well as the windows and the door of my bigger box, in which I usually lived, because ...
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Nemos Ascent
Captain Nemo went towards the peak, which he doubtless meant to be his observatory. It was a painful ascent over the sharp lava and the pumice-stones,...
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes / Psychological Turmoil
That was a week ago, and from that time I have not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor seen the man in the road.” “Pray conti...
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, ...
The War of the Worlds / Disruption and Isolation
I could just see the curate’s face, a dim, oval shape, and his collar and cuffs. Outside there began a metallic hammering, then a violent hooting, and...
Dracula / Maritime Uncertainty
The wind is high--I can hear it in the shrouds, and the bow throws back the foam.” It is evident that the _Czarina Catherine_ is still at sea, hasteni...
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Confrontation with Authority
Certainly my trouble and agitation would have betrayed me to Captain Nemo’s eyes. At every moment I expected to see him appear, and ask me why I wishe...
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Survival in Isolation
On March 22, the _Nautilus_ was in the open polar seas. For five days we had lived on the reserve on board. And what was left of the respirable air mu...
Frankenstein / Creator and Creature
Relieve me from the sight of your detested form.” “Thus I relieve thee, my creator,” he said, and placed his hated hands before my eyes, which I flung...
Dracula / Imminent Tension
Mate getting very impatient with them; feared some trouble ahead. * * * * * On 17 July, yesterday, one of the men, Olgaren, came to my cabin, and in a...
Frankenstein / Journey of Vengeance
I have traversed a vast portion of the earth and have endured all the hardships which travellers in deserts and barbarous countries are wont to meet. ...
Dracula / Vulnerability and Anxiety
She seems not too well herself, and doubtless she fears to worry me. I tried to keep awake, and succeeded for a while; but when the clock struck twelv...
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...
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Exploration and Isolation
I thought that a mountainous region was succeeding the long plains; and accordingly, after a few evolutions of the _Nautilus_, I saw the southerly hor...
The War of the Worlds / Desolation Aftermath
In a few minutes there was, so far as the soldier could see, not a living thing left upon the common, and every bush and tree upon it that was not alr...
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Exploration and Isolation
I had not seen Captain Nemo for a week, when, on the morning of the 27th, he came into the large drawing-room, always seeming as if he had seen you fi...
Gulliver's Travels / Transformative Landscape
But, in three hours travelling, the scene was wholly altered; we came into a most beautiful country; farmers’ houses, at small distances, neatly built...
Gulliver's Travels / Despair and Ingenuity
I then fastened my handkerchief to a stick I usually carried, and thrusting it up the hole, waved it several times in the air, that if any boat or shi...
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes / Urban Mystery
I tried to puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside until night should bring an explanation. It was a quarter-past nine when ...
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Chaos and Isolation
There is a constant emission of light from the storm clouds; the electric matter is incessantly released; evidently the gaseous principles of the air ...
Dracula / Disconnection and Nostalgia
When we entered we saw with amazement that he had spread out his sugar as of old; the flies, lethargic with the autumn, were beginning to buzz into th...
The War of the Worlds / Fear and Avoidance
He made a wide curve to avoid me, as though he feared I might prove a fresh competitor. As the yelping died away down the silent road, the wailing sou...
The War of the Worlds / Unexpected Encounters
In another moment a bend in the road hid the three men from my brother’s eyes. So, quite unexpectedly, my brother found himself, panting, with a cut m...
Frankenstein / Guilt and Creation
Justine, poor unhappy Justine, was as innocent as I, and she suffered the same charge; she died for it; and I am the cause of this—I murdered her. Wil...
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Exploration and Knowledge
We began to hope that we should find some of those saurians which science has succeeded in reconstructing from bits of bone or cartilage. I took up th...
Pride and Prejudice / Character Reflection
Bennet was not of a disposition to seek comfort for the disappointment which his own imprudence had brought on in any of those pleasures which too oft...
The War of the Worlds / Destruction and Indifference
Two days after I was imprisoned it had been destroyed, with every soul in it, by a Martian. He had swept it out of existence, as it seemed, without an...
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...
Frankenstein / Survival and Identity
Only one dog remained alive; but there was a human being within it whom the sailors were persuading to enter the vessel. He was not, as the other trav...
Frankenstein / Journey of Despair
Six years had passed since then: _I_ was a wreck, but nought had changed in those savage and enduring scenes. I performed the first part of my journey...
Dracula / Cliffs and Shadows
Making straight for the steep cliff, where the churchyard hangs over the laneway to the East Pier so steeply that some of the flat tombstones--“thruff...
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Desolation and Pity
The country we had reached was already nearly a desert. Here and there could be seen an isolated farm, some solitary bur, or Icelandic house, built of...
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Unexpected Care
Soon however, about a quarter of an hour later I heard a voice above me, at one of the upper fireplaces. In an instant a basket was lowered with milk,...
Frankenstein / Existential Struggle
The mere presence of the idea was an irresistible proof of the fact. I thought of pursuing the devil; but it would have been in vain, for another flas...
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes / Cultural Engagement
Could your patients spare you for a few hours?” “I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very absorbing.” “Then put on your hat and come. I ...
The War of the Worlds / Urban Despair
My brother supposes they must have filled outside London, for at that time the furious terror of the people had rendered the central termini impossibl...