Perseverance

Perseverance

See also Determination.

Ainsworth

redid dictionary manuscript burnt in fire. [Br. Hist.: Brewer Handbook, 752]

Call of the Wild, The

dogs trail steadfastly through Alaska’s tundra. [Am. Lit.: The Call of the Wild]

canary grass

traditional symbol of perseverance. [Plant Symbolism: Flora Symbolica, 183]

Cato

the Elder (234–149 B.C.) for his last eight years said in every Senate speech, “Carthage must be destroyed.” [Rom. Hist.: EB (1963) V, 43]

Deans, Jeanie

by resourcefulness and an arduous journey, manages eventually to obtain a pardon for her sister. [Br. Lit.: The Heart of Midlothian]

Goodwood, Caspar

eternal American pursuer of Isabel Archer’s hand. [Am. Lit.: The Portrait of a Lady, Magill I, 766–768]

Little Engine That Could

pint-sized locomotive struggles long and hard to surmount hill before succeeding. [Children’s Lit.: Little Engine That Could]

Moses Hebrew

lawgiver; led his quarrelsome people out of bondage in Egypt. [O.T.: Exodus; Leviticus]

Mutt

though usually thwarted in his schemes, he remains determined to triumph someday. [Comics: Berger, 48]

Penelope

foils suiters for twenty years while awaiting return of Odysseus. [Gk. Myth.: Kravitz, 182]

Rembrandt

to Rembrandt artist continues to work despite financial failures. [Am. Lit.: “Rembrandt to Rembrandt” in Hart, 703–704]

Santiago

attempts to subdue large fish through harshness of sea and weather. [Am. Lit.: The Old Man and the Sea]

snail

symbol of deliberation and steadfastness. [Heraldry: Halberts, 38]

tortoise

perseverance helps him succeed where those inclined to dawdle fail. [Folklore: Jobes, 1590]

Zarechnaya, Nina

sacrifices everything to further career as actress. [Russ. Lit.: The Seagull]