He longs to be jolted out of his introspection

To jolt someone is to disturb them or make them jump. A jolt is sudden and jarring.

Jolting disturbs or surprises people. If you surprise someone and they jump up a little, you jolted them. Alarm clocks jolt people out of sleep. A sudden crack of thunder could provide a jolt. The unexpected barking of a dog could jolt you. Jolting is quick and not very pleasant. A jolt jars and stuns you. Some jolts are more serious: crashing your car jolts the people in the car violently.

jolt [dʒəʊlt]

AN (=jerk) sacudida f; (=sudden bump) choque m; (fig) susto m
to give sb a jolt (fig) dar un susto a algn
it gave me a bit of a jolt me dio un buen susto

BVT[vehicle] sacudir [+ person, elbow] empujar (ligeramente), sacudir (levemente); (fig) afectar mucho
to jolt sb into (doing) sth mover a algn a hacer algo
to jolt sb out of his complacency hacer que algn se dé cuenta de la necesidad de hacer algo

CVI[vehicle] traquetear, dar tumbos

jolt to a start and jolt to a stop

to start or stop moving suddenly, causing a jolt. The truck jolted to a stop at the stop sign. The little car jolted to a quick start and threw the passenger back in his seat.