Category Archives: Glossary

Eerily

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Adverb

Eerily –  so mysterious, strange, or unexpected as to send a chill up the spine

sources : https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/eerily

I have encountered this word while reading “Quicksand” by Nella Larsen. You can locate this word on page one, at the bottom of the page. When the narrator said “So large that the spot where Helga sat was a small oasis in a dessert of darkness. And Eerily quiet.” The word was interesting because it was used in such a short sentences to describe what the atmosphere was like when reading it. After understanding what this word means I think that the narrator was describing where Helga was sitting, and what it felted like, as the “shadowy”, and a large spot of lights, making the atmosphere very mysterious, and gloomy. Its atmosphere was very strange and frightening, also another word that would describe it would be emptiness.

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Acquiescence

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Acquiescence: noun: passive acceptance or submission.

Source: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/acquiescence

From “The Complete Fiction of Nella Larson” by Nella Larsen, Page 42

“Helga, on the other hand, had never quite achieved the unmistakable Naxos Mold, would never achieve it in spite of trying…Always she had considered it a lack of understanding on the part of the community, but in her present new revolt she realized that the fault had been partly hers. A lack of acquiescence.”

Acquiescence is used in this passage to explain why Helga hadn’t adjusted to life in Naxos. She didn’t adopt the Naxos way of life because she didn’t want to.

Magnanimity

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noun

the quality of being magnanimous; a magnanimous act.

(This  word is a derivative of the word magnanimous which in turn means showing noble sensibility or high minded)

source: the free dictionary by Farlex

I stumble on to the word “magnanimity” while reading chapter one of the Quicksand. It was use in the context “the exemplification of the white man’s magnanimity” . I believe  the word was used to emphasize the idea of how highly the white man is portrayed in Naxos. (refer to chapter 1 of Quicksand by Nella Larsen).

Tapestry

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  1. Tapestry -( noun) a heavy handwoven reversible textile used for hangings, curtains, and upholstery and characterized by complicated pictorial designs

i found this definition on https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tapestry

I found this word in our new book Quicksand by Nella Larsen “In vivid green and gold negligee and glistening brocaded mules, deep sunk in the big high-backed chair, against whose dark tapestry her sharply cut face, with skin like yellow satin, was distinctly outlined she was—to use a hackneyed word—attractive.”

now I have a visual and a better understanding of tapestry. It can be considered a design that is put on your wall like a curtain and it has details and designs all over

K

Nasturtiums

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Nasturtiums (noun) – any of a genus (Tropaeolum of the family Tropaeolaceae, the nasturtium family) of herbs of Central and South America with showy spurred flowers and pungent edible seeds and leaves.

Source – https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nasturtium

In “Quicksand”, “Only a single reading lamp, dimmed by a great black and red shade, made by pool of light on the blue Chinese carpet, on the bright covers of the books which she had taken down from their long shelves, on the white pages of the opened one selected, on the shining brass bowl crowded with many-colored nasturtiums beside her on the low table, and on the oriental silk which covered the stool at her slim feet.” (Larsen, pg 35)

I now understand that the author is trying to set a seen with the description of the nasturtiums, which are colorful flowers that can be red, yellow, and white. These flowers are next to Helga Crane as she sits around a table.

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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.

Morsel

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Morsel – a small piece of food

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

I have encounter this word, while reading the “Hunger Artist” on page 1, on the second paragraph, it said “This was nothing but a formality, instituted to reassure the masses, for the initiates knew well enough that during his fast the artist would never in any circumstances, not even under forcible compulsion, swallow the smallest morsel of food; the honor of his profession forbade it. Not every watcher, of course, was capable of understanding this, there were often groups of night watchers who were very lax in carrying out their duties and deliberately hudled together in a retired corner to play cards with great absorption, obviously intending to give the hunger artist the chance of a little refreshment, which they supposed he could draw from some private hoard.” After understanding the definition of this word, it means to eat a small quantity of food.

Image result for taking small bites of food

In this picture she eating a small amount of food.

Impresario

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Impresario

Noun

– the promoter, manager, or conductor of an opera or concert company.

I found this definition on https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/impresario

I found this word in The Hunger artist by Franz Kafka

“ The impresario came forward without a word—the music made talking impossible—raised his arms over the hunger artist, as if inviting heaven to look upon its work here on the straw, this unfortunate martyr (something the hunger artist certainly was, only in a completely different sense), grabbed the hunger artist around his thin waist, in the process wanting with his exaggerated caution to make people believe that here he had to deal with something fragile, and handed him over—not without secretly shaking him a little, so that the hunger artist’s legs and upper body swung back and forth uncontrollably—to the women, who had in the meantime turned as pale as death. ”

i has no idea was impresario meant so reading this I didn’t totally understand who this man was and why exactly he was doing what he was but now that I know the definition I get why he was there and why he did was he did. This word is a great vocabulary substitute because it’s not commonly used.

Calceolaria

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KCalceolaria

1 capitalized : a large genus of tropical American plants (family Scrophulariaceae) with highly irregular 2-parted showy flowers having a small upper lip and a large inflated slipper-shaped lower lip
2 plural -s : any garden plant of the genus Calceolaria — called also slipperwort

i found this definition on https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/calceolaria

I found this word in The Cottagette

I overall had an idea of this word being a plant but I didn’t know exactly what it was and how it looked but now that I learned where its from and how it looks I get a better understanding.

Impresario

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Impresario (noun) – manger or director

“He much preferred the observes who sat down right against the bars and not satisfied with the dim back lighting of the room, illuminated him with electric flashlights, which the impresario made to them”.

This word was used to show how important the scenery is to the Franz Kafka. I was able to understand who he was referring to about impressing the clubs to make it more attractive.