Category Archives: Glossary

Compulsion

Leave a reply

Compulsion (Noun) ->>>> the state of being forced to do something.

I found this word from “A Hunger Artist” by Franz Kafka

This was nothing but a formality, instigated 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;

This word was used to describe that the artist would not (even if forced to do so) take a small piece of food into his mouth. I was able to understand the meaning of this quote even before looking up the word, by using the key phrases around the word like (forcible) , but still this is one of the few times I encountered this word.

Source ->>>> https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/compulsion

Vigil

Leave a reply

Vigil (noun) – an event or a period of time when a person or group stays in a place and quietly waits, prays, etc., especially at night.

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

From “A Hunger Artist” by Franz Kafka

“Sometimes there were nightly groups of watchers who carried out their vigil very laxly, deliberately sitting together in a distant corner and putting all their attention into playing cards there, clearly intending to allow the hunger artist a small refreshment, which, according to their way of thinking, he could get from some secret supplies.”

Vigil is used here to describe the nightly activities of the watchers. This shows that these groups of people go out at night and watch the hunger artist, even though they don’t understand the art.

Emaciated

Leave a reply

Emaciated (adjective): bony, thin.                                                                                                           Someone who is dangerously skinny and skeletal-looking can be described as emaciated. It’s probably how you’d start to look after a few weeks in the wilderness with only berries and bugs for dinner.

https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/emaciated

From: A Hunger Artist by Franz Kafka

” While for grown-ups the hunger artist was often merely a joke, something they participated in because it was fashionable, the children looked on amazed, their mouths open, holding each other’s hands for safety, as he sat there on scattered straw—spurning a chair—in black tights, looking pale, with his ribs sticking out prominently, sometimes nodding politely, answering questions with a forced smile, even sticking his arm out through the bars to let people feel how emaciated he was…”                                                                                                                                      Ths statement means that everyone was so amazed by seeing him how skinny he was because he did not eat any bite food or sip of drink for a long time period.  And for children, he was a monster looking person in the cage.

Excruciating

Leave a reply

Excruciate (adjective):                                                                                                                                      Causing great pain or anguish : agonizing.                                                                                                  Very intense : extreme

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

From: A Hunger Artist                                                                                                       “Sometimes there were nightly groups of watchers who carried out their vigil very laxly, deliberately sitting together in the distant corner and putting all their attention into playing card there, clearly intending to allow the hunger artist a small refreshment, which according to their way of thinking, he could get from some secret supplies. Nothing more excruciating to hunger artist than such watchers”                                                                                                                               This sentence means that people still thought that hunger artist has some secret ways of having some snakes because people believed no one could bear the hunger for a long time of period. Yet, hunger artist was a true artist who can never break his honesty although people force him to eat during his hunger game. And he was very upset with people who thought he was having secret ways of getting food, which he never did and never will.

Absinthe

Leave a reply

Absinthe (noun) – a green or sometimes colorless distilled liquor with high alcoholic content that is flavored with wormwood, anise, and other aromatic herbs (such as fennel); also : a similar liquor that is made without wormwood

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

“Yes,” said the girl. “Everything tastes of liquorice. Especially all the things you’ve waited so long for, like absinthe.” (“Hills Like White Elephants”, Hemingway)

I understand the absinthe is an alcoholic beverage which I believe, from what was stated in last class, that since the girl is pregnant, she can not drink absinthe which she probably craves to have. So she wants to wait to have the baby until it will be fine to drink absinthe without affecting the baby. Also, she might me too young to have such a drink. So in that quote, he is referring to her long have or had to wait and comparing it to the wait she had until she was able to have a drink of absinthe.

Ebro

Leave a reply

Ebro, noun: The second largest river in Spain, rising in the Cantabrian Mountains and flowing southeast to the Mediterranean.

Source: http://www.dictionary.com/browse/ebro

We encountered this word only once while reading “Hills like White Elephants.” It appears about halfway through the story, in the context of the setting. The Ebro is a set piece in this story meant to signify that it takes place in Spain.

“The girl stood up and walked to the end of the station. Across, on the other side, were fields of grain and trees along the banks of the Ebro. Far away, beyond the river, were mountains. The shadow of a cloud moved across the field of grain and she saw the river through the trees.”

junction

Leave a reply

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.

Prominently

Leave a reply

Prominently (Adverb)

Prominent means to standout or project beyond a surface or line. Also readily noticeable.

Merriam- Webster Dictionary

“A Hunger Artist” by Franz Kafka

“-Spurning a chair – in black tights, looking pale, with his ribs sticking out prominently, sometimes nodding politely, answering questions with a forced smile, even sticking his arm out through the bars to let people feel how emaciated he was…”

Now fining out the definition of he word prominent, i understand the meaning of the sentence. The sentence is telling us how his ribs are standing out and being projected.

Menagerie

Leave a reply

Menagerie: noun:  a place where animals are kept and trained especially for exhibition.

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

From “A Hunger Artist” by Franz Kafka , page 5

“During the intervals in the main performance, when the general public pushed out towards the menagerie in order to see the animals, they could hardly avoid moving past the hunger artist and stopping there a moment.”

Menagerie is used to illustrate the scene. The hunger artist has now been moved right next to where the animals are kept.

Neurasthenia

Leave a reply

Definition of neurasthenia – a condition that is characterized especially by physical and mental exhaustion usually with accompanying symptoms (such as headache and irritability), is of unknown cause but is often associated with depression or emotional stress, and is sometimes considered similar to or identical with chronic fatigue syndrome.

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

I have encountered this word while reading Charlotte Perkins Gilman “Why I Wrote The Yellow Wallpaper” (1913). This word was located on the first page second to last paragraph. “But the best result is this. Many years later I was told that the great specialist had admitted to friends of his that he had altered his treatment of neurasthenia since reading The Yellow Wallpaper.” To my understanding of the word it is a syndrome that is develop naturally, and it causes stress, depression, and even hallucinations. Which is similar to what the narrator from “The Yellow Wallpaper” has throughout the story. The narrator claim that her sickness was cause of nervous depression, which is similar to what neurasthenia is.

Image result for hallucinations

This picture show what a person with neurasthenia might be imagining of in their head.