Author: Kevin Tung

According to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, the word hiss is identified as a verb. It means “to make a small sibilant sound”. On page 361, it states,” Impatient, so impatient, so like the water that’s hissing and tumbling in the pot, demanding immediate attention.” The author Tahira used this word to emphasize how impatient Kasim was being at the moment, comparing him to the sounds in the surroundings.

According to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, the word fetid is identified as a adjective. It means “having a heavy offensive smell”. On page 106 of “The Turbid Ebb and Flow of Misery”, it states,”There were then approximately ten thousand apartments in New York into which no sun ray penetrated directly; such windows as they had opened only on a narrow court from which rose fetid odors.” The word fetid was used to describe the living conditions they were in and how the garbage was never cleaned which led to bad odors.

According to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, the word peddler is identified as a noun. It’s defined as a  “person who offers merchandise for sale along the streets or from door to door”. In the first paragraph of Malcolm X,”Coming to an awareness of language” it states, “I guess that’s why, unable to do anything else, I soon began writing to people I had known the hustling world, such as Sammy the Pimp, John Hughes, the gambling house owner, the thief Jumpsteady, and several dope peddlers.” Malcolm was trying to explain the people he knew in the hustling world which were mostly street thugs.