Naïveté

views updated May 23 2018

462. Naïveté (See also Inexperience, Innocence.)

  1. Agnes young girl, affects to be simple and ingenuous. [Fr. Lit.: LEcole des Femmes ]
  2. babes in the woods applied to easily deceived or naive persons. [Folklore: Jobes, 169]
  3. beardlessness traditional representation of innocence and inexperience. [Western Folklore: Jobes, 190]
  4. Carlisle, Lady Mary couldnt determine true nobility. [Am. Lit.: Monsieur Beaucaire, Magill I, 616617]
  5. Curlylocks nursery rhyme heroine exemplifies innocence. [Folk-lore: Jobes, 398]
  6. Do-Right, Dudley Canadian mountie do-gooder. [TV: The Dudley Do-Right Show in Terrace, I, 229230]
  7. Dondi foster child; confronts world with wide-eyed innocence. [Comics: Horn, 217218]
  8. Errol, Cedric seven-year-old believes the best of everyone. [Am. Lit.: Little Lord Fauntleroy ]
  9. Evelina 17-year-old ingenuously circulates through fashionable London. [Br. Lit.: Evelina ]
  10. Georgette Ted Baxters pretty, ignorant wife. [TV: The Mary Tyler Moore Show in Terrace, II, 7071]
  11. Little Nell meek little girl reared by grandfather. [Br. Lit.: The Old Curiosity Shop ]
  12. Miller, Daisy innocent and ignorant American girl put in compromising European situations. [Am. Lit.: Daisy Miller ]
  13. Miranda innocent and noble-minded daughter of Prospero. [Br. Lit.: The Tempest ]
  14. Myshkin, Prince loved for his innocence and frankness, lack of sophistication, and kind heart. [Russ. Lit.: Dostoevsky The Idiot ]
  15. Schlemihl, Peter archetypal innocent; sold soul to devil. [Ger. Lit.: Peter Schlemihl ; Fr. Opera: Westerman, Tales of Hoffman, 274277]
  16. Shosha narrators mentally backward and utterly artless wife. [Am. Lit.: Shosha ]
  17. Tessa childlike young woman who thinks herself wedded to Tito and obeys his command to tell nobody of their supposed marriage. [Br. Lit.: George Eliot Romola ]
  18. Topsy young slave girl; completely naive. [Am. Lit.: Uncle Toms Cabin ]
  19. white lilac flowers indicative of naivete, callowness. [Flower Symbolism: Flora Symbolica, 175]

Innocence

views updated Jun 08 2018

375. Innocence (See also Inexperience, Naïveté.)

  1. Adam and Eve naked in Eden; knew no shame. [O.T.: Genesis 2:25]
  2. Arjuna Sanskrit name means sinless. [Hindu Myth.: Benét, 50]
  3. Babes in the Wood innocent children are lost in the wood and die. [Br. Lit.: Babes in the Wood, Walsh Classical, 42]
  4. basin and ewer Pilates guiltlessness signified by washing of hands. [N.T.: Matthew 27:24]
  5. Budd, Billy friendly sailor; held in warm affection by crew. [Am. Lit.: Billy Budd ]
  6. Christabel free of evil. [Br. Lit.: Christabel in Walsh Modern, 95]
  7. Cinderella with fairy godmothers aid, poor maligned girl wins princes heart. [Fr. Fairy Tale: Cinderella ]
  8. Cio-Cio-San believes marriage to Pinkerton is real. [Ital. Opera: Puccini, Madama Butterfly, Westerman, 357]
  9. daisy symbol of blamelessness. [Flower Symbolism: Flora Symbolica, 173; Kunz, 328]
  10. Delano, Amasa naive, goodhearted captain rescues captive captain from mutineers. [Am. Lit.: Benito Cereno ]
  11. Desdemona blamelessness martyred through slander. [Br. Lit.: Othello ]
  12. Hallyard, St . Norwegian martyred in defense of guiltless woman. [Christian Hagiog.: Attwater, 165]
  13. Heidi has instinct for goodness. [Childrens Lit.: Heidi ]
  14. Imogen chaste wife unjustly suspected by Postumus of unfaithfulness. [Br. Drama: Shakespeare Cymbeline ]
  15. lamb attribute of young woman; personification of guiltlessness. [Art: Hall, 161]
  16. Minnie female saloonkeeper in mining town; never been kissed. [Ital. Opera: Puccini, Girl of the Golden West, Westerman, 360361]
  17. Pedro in marrying former mistress of enemy. [Ger. Opera: dAlbert, Tief land, Westerman, 371374]
  18. Pinch, Tom guileless, with unbounded goodness of heart. [Br. Lit.: Martin Chuzzlewit ]
  19. Rima beautiful jungle girl, lover of birds and animals, knows neither evil nor guile. [Br. Lit.: Hudson Green Mansions in Magill I, 333]
  20. Susanna unjustly condemned for adultery; later acquitted. [Apocrypha: Daniel and Susanna]

Inquisitiveness (See CURIOSITY .)

Insanity (See MADNESS .)

naiveté

views updated Jun 11 2018

na·ive·té / ˌnīˌēv(ə)ˈtā; nīˈēv(ə)ˌtā/ (also na·ïve·té, Brit. na·ive·ty) • n. lack of experience, wisdom, or judgment: the administration's naiveté and inexperience in foreign policy. ∎  innocence or unsophistication: they took advantage of his naiveté and deep pockets.

Innocence

views updated May 21 2018

Innocence ★★★½ 2000 (R)

Sweet tale of lasting love has postwar teenaged Belgian lovers meeting again 45 years later in Australia. Andreas is an affable widower who finds out his long-lost love, Claire, is living in his town and looks her up. Claire is still married, but soon the old feelings are rekindled between the two and they begin an affair. Film deals honestly and beautifully with the endurance of true love, and how the routines and expectations of everyday life are affected by it. The role of Andreas was originally written for Kaye, but illness forced him to take a smaller, supporting role. 96m/C VHS, DVD . AU AU Julia Blake, Charles “Bud” Tingwell, Terry Norris, Robert Menzies, Chris Haywood, Norman Kaye, Joey Kennedy, Marta Dusseldorp, Kristien Van Pellicom, Kenny Aernouts; D: Paul Cox; W: Paul Cox; C: Tony Clark; M: Paul Grabowsky.