Author Archives: olakunle ilori

Sultry

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Adjective

Very hot and humid:Sweltering

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sultry

This word was encountered in chapter 10 of quicksand.”Arriving at work one sultry day,hot and dispirited,she found a waiting letter,”

when I first saw this word I didn’t know what it meant because I had never seen it before.At first I thought it meant something like sad or bland but now I understand that it is actually referring to the  weather.

This word also relates to Helga’s inability to deal with certain situations.Helga for the most part is slightly uncaring or rather shes detached.However when asked about marriage,when a kiss was stolen from her,the heat from the dance floor filled with all kinds of black folk twisting about in a “jungle animal” manner Helga just cannot handle it.All of this stems from her childhood. She cannot accept all that comes with being colored because she was so hated by her own family since she had colored blood. Early childhood researchers tell us that parents and life at home are instrumental to shaping an individual,its clear that her childhood implanted in her hatred for who she was.

Tranquility

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Tranquility;Noun

 the quality or state of being tranquil and or free from agitation physical or mental

  • the tranquility of the quiet countryside
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tranquility
I encountered this word in the first chapter of quicksand. on page 2
“she loved this tranquility,this quiet  following the fret and strain of the long hours spent among fellow members of a carelessly unkind and gossiping faculty”
I knew this word had something to do with peace.However after reading this i see now that it means more than peace and or multiple forms of peace whether physically,emotionally,mentally or spiritually.

Nomadic

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nomadic;adjective

An appropriate definition to Nomadic is roaming about from place to place aimlessly, frequently, or without a fixed pattern of movement

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nomadic

From a hunger artist in the second paragraph

“The glaring light didn’t bother him in the slightest. Generally he couldn’t sleep at all, and he could always doze off a little under any lighting and at any hour, even in an overcrowded, noisy auditorium. With such observers, he was very happily prepared to spend the entire night without sleeping. He was ready to joke with them, to recount stories from his nomadic life and then, in turn, to listen to their stories—doing everything just to keep them awake, so that he could keep showing them once again that he had nothing to eat in his cage and that he was fasting as none of them could.”

Now that I have the definition and the context in which to put it,I can surmise that it means that hes never had a stable home.This could’ve also played apart in why he does the things he does.This also means that hes seen tons of things. Its possible that his nomadic lifestyle had a very profound impact on his psyche.

Only the dead know brooklyn by Thomas Wolfe

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After reading “Only The Dead Know Brooklyn” I realized just how important and interesting language is. Actually I should say that context and how one pronounces words are very important.The reason why these things are so important is because the words used in this story are not proper English in any way shape or form.This is important because the story is still readable and makes sense and this is only true because i understand the context and the setting in which this story is based. I am not the only one who will understand the story in its entirety students,young people,teachers,professors in NYC and most people in the us will understand this story.However if this story was taken to Spain or France I firmly believe that since there would be no way for them to relate to the context the spelling would completely throw them off.This is significant because the words themselves  are not all that difficult they could be spoken aloud and that would provide clarity. The people who do have context would not think about it this way and the people without it would dismiss this story as rubbish.Just like how in the story the character thought that the individual talking about drowning was crazy because he did not know what the other guy meant by that.This to me shows just how important context is,this show just how powerful language is as well as how important it is.Finally this story was also interesting because it has me thinking about all my past everyday interactions with other individuals and as well as the writing i have done, was i really and truly understood? are any of us really and truly understood? are there words that we as humans use that could be added in or taken out of our everyday language that could promote complete understanding?

junction

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junction:noun

An act of joining  or the state of being joined

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/junction

This word was encountered in the first paragraph of hills like white elephants.

“The American and the girl with him sat at a table in the shade, outside the building. It was very hot and the express from Barcelona would come in forty minutes. It stopped at this junction for two minutes and went on to Madrid.”

I actually always  thought that this word had a deeper/more complex meaning and that the word was just a description of an action.But that’s just not the case here.

deputation

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Deputation  :noun

a deputation is defined as a  group of people appointed to represent others. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/deputation

I found this word in the story “A Rose For Emily” in the fifth paragraph.

“They called a special meeting of the Board of Aldermen. A deputation waited upon her, knocked at the door through which no visitor had passed since she ceased giving china-painting lessons eight or ten years earlier.”

when i first read this word i thought it was a sort of legal term and or legal document that was involved with death or people who had some sort of legal obligation to dead people. Now that i have looked up the word i now understand that it is a clique of people or a small party that have some sort of  job to do,at-least in this context.

Tumultuously

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Adverb

Tumultuously just means a person place or thing is involved in or is becoming a victim violent or overwhelming turbulence or upheaval.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tumultuous

”There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it,fearfully.What was it? she did not know:it was too subtle and elusive to name.But she felt it,creeping out of the sky,reaching toward her through the sounds,the scents,the color that filled the air.”

”now her bosom rose and fell tumultuously.”

(The Story Of An Hour;Kate Chopin)

This word is usually used by people who do not want to use words like violent,rapid,fast or crazily.Whats happening in this instance is the main character is having a mini but violent borderline heart\lung attack.For extra visualization the author threw in the fact that her bosom and or chest area was going up and down.

Epithet

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Epithet:noun:

An Epithet is a disparaging or abusive word.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/epithet

“Another thing.Good and wicked.Don’t you think that you should transcend those puritanical  judgemental moralistic epithets? I mean, so much of it is conditioning, isn’t it?”

Basically this word is a sort of chastization and or warning that writers and or society should stop putting labels on people and things.Essentially people who use this word want things and people to be studied carefully because diffent forms of being or behavior usually have multiple reasons.