Death Quote by F. Scott Fitzgerald
““After slipping on a negligee and making herself comfortable on the lounge, she became conscious that she was miserable and that the tears were rolling down her cheeks. She wondered if they were the tears of self-pity, and tried resolutely not to cry, but this existence without hope, without happiness, oppressed her, and she kept shaking her head from side to side, her mouth drawn down tremulously in the corners, as though she were denying the assertion made by some one, somewhere. She did not know that this gesture of hers was years older than history, that, for a hundred generations of men, intolerable and persistent grief has offered that gesture, of denial, of protest, of bewilderment, to something more profound, more powerful than the God made in the image of man, and before which that God, did he exist, would be equally impotent. It is a truth set at the heart of tragedy that this force never explains, never answers - this force intangible as air, more definite than death.””
About This Quote
Source Novel: Unnamed manuscript, early 20th century (fiction)
A woman confronts deep grief and existential despair, recognizing that denial and protest are ancient, universal responses to suffering.
In simple terms: Grief leads to denial and protest.
Key Takeaway
Acknowledge pain rather than deny it.
Themes
grief
existentialism
denial
protest
human condition
Mood
melancholic
introspective
Type
literary
philosophical
When to use this quote
- personal loss
- mental health
- artistic expression
Key Concepts
philosophy
psychology
Questions to Reflect On
- What does denial reveal about our coping?
- Can protest become a path to healing?
