Word: enigma
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...fears and desires. He is able simply by his presence to drive Edward to destroy himself and to bring Flora new life. But when awkwardly portrayed in concrete terms, the Matchseller appears to be little more than a speechless idiot who mystifyingly turns Edward into a raving maniac. The enigma of the Matchseller figure is lost and the play becomes a joke...
Bruce Taylor Odell is an enigma. He calls himself a "quiet man," but he is eager to tell stories. He will preface a story with the admonition "this is off the record, deep background," and then spell out all the names in the forbidden episode. He denies any egocentricity, yet, like most people, he seems to like the sound of his own name. After serving as a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operative for 17 of the last 25 years, he claims to have "come out" in order to "turn the agency around," but he is reluctant to publicly reveal...
Power of Illusion. The general even finds a perfect double to appear in public for him. When the double is assassinated, the dictator in effect attends his own funeral where, Garcia Márquez writes, "he saw with a hidden uneasiness those who had only come to decipher the enigma of whether it really was or was not he ..." He soon sets them straight and, like Francisco Franco, seems to go on forever, despite rumors of failing health and imminent demise. Even when he really is found dead, the people cannot be sure...
...aspirant from Georgia, for all that he says, remains an enigma. Such was bound to happen perhaps, especially in a culture that has reduced the human soul to the simplicities of a McDonald's hamburger...
...either case, Hua remains very much an enigma. So little is known of his background and capabilities-his age and education and family background are all mysteries-that it is hard to judge his chances of remaining in power. He is evidently a man of great administrative ability, but he lacks the kind of charisma that the Chinese have long associated with their party Chairman. And though he seems to have the support of other key elements, especially the army and the party bureaucracy, he may not have a strong enough power base to survive a major challenge...