All 6 Uses of
despair
in
Things Fall Apart
- It always surprised him when he thought of it later that he did not sink under the load of despair.
p. 24.7despair = distress (at not knowing how to improve a bad situation)
- His father, Unoka, who was then an ailing man, had said to him during that terrible harvest month: "Do not despair."
p. 24.9 *despair = give up hope
- I know you will not despair. You have a manly and a proud heart.
p. 24.9
- As she buried one child after another her sorrow gave way to despair and then to grim resignation.
p. 77.2despair = distress (at not knowing how to improve a bad situation)
- Her deepening despair found expression in the names she gave her children.
p. 77.3
- The old man, Uchendu, saw clearly that Okonkwo had yielded to despair and he was greatly troubled.
p. 131.6 *despair = hopelessnesseditor's notes: In this context, yielded is a synonym for given in.
Definitions:
-
(1)
(despair as in: she felt despair) hopelessness; or distress (such as extreme worry or sadness from feeling powerless to change a bad situation)
-
(2)
(despair as in: do not despair) lose hope or feel distress
-
(3)
(despair as in: she was the despair of the team) something that causes hopelessness or great distress