1 A red sun stood over the grey rim of the fields, behind trees that looked black and brittle.
2 Mrs. Tarleton's face changed and the brittle smile left her lips as she put her arm around Carreen's slender waist.
3 Cathleen was as white as Cade had been the day Scarlett called, white and hard and brittle, as if her face would shatter if she spoke.
4 The white brittle mask was back again and she picked up the reins.
5 She laughed and was frivolous and rather brittle.
6 The brittle blue line had withstood the blows and won.
7 Exactly as before, I was your little skylark, your doll, which you would in future treat with doubly gentle care, because it was so brittle and fragile.
8 So when the blue smoke of brittle leaves was in the air and the wind blew the wet laundry stiff on the line I decided to come back home.
9 The house gave little cracks as if it were very brittle, very dry.
10 He rolled its body, tender yet brittle as a grain of rice, between thumb and finger for an instant before he let it fall from him and wondered would it live or die.
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man By James JoyceContext Highlight In Chapter 5