• Bemoan (verb)
  -to express deep grief or distress over

Taken from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s “You In America”

“You knew by people’s reactions that you were abnormal—the way the nasty ones were too nasty and the nice ones too nice. The old white women who muttered and glared at him, the black men who shook their heads at you, the black women whose pitiful eyes bemoaned your lack of self-esteem, your self-loathing.”

When the protagonist started being in relationship with the “white man”, people’s reaction towards them wasn’t really accepted with open arms. Their relationship was criticize with even just how strangers look at them. Black women for instance feels bad and sympathetic towards the protagonist because they think she is only in relationship with a white man because of her lack of self esteem. Bemoan/bemoaned was on this context to describe this feeling of those Black women. Knowing the meaning of the word made me understand how judgmental they are for thinking this way.

source:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bemoan

Expiation (noun)
– the act of making an atonement
– make amends or reparations for

Taken from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s “You In America”

“You wanted to write about the way people left so much food on their plates and crumpled a few dollar bills down, as though it was an offering, expiation for the wasted food.”

After finding a job at a local restaurant, the protagonist wanted to send letter to her family about her experiences at work and such, one instances is the text above. Expiation on this context meant to show that some customers leave a couples bucks in order feel better about themselves for wasting so much food. Knowing the definition of the word “expiation”, I’ve learned that the customer’s thought process about their wasteful action is that it will somewhat clear their conscience.

source:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/expiation
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/expiate

Lassitude (noun)
– a condition characterized by lack of interest, energy, or spirit
– a state of physical or mental weariness

Taken from Nella Larsen’s “Quicksand”

“Days, weeks, passed; outwardly serene; inwardly tumultuous. Helga met Dr. Anderson at the social affairs to which often they were both asked. Sometimes she danced with him, always in perfect silence. She couldn’t, she absolutely couldn’t, speak a word to him when they were thus alone together, for at such times lassitude encompassed her; the emotion which had gripped her retreated, leaving a strange tranquility, troubled only by a soft stir of desire.”

The word lassitude on this text was used by Nella Larsen to convey the muddled feeling of Helga Crane towards Dr. Anderson after their sudden that had transpired right at the end of chapter eighteen. Helga’s perception of Dr. Anderson became even more complicated that she doesn’t know how to perceive the situations when they are alone together within the text. Because of this, I’ve come to understand at this moment that Helga is in fact attracted and maybe even in love with Dr. Andersen because of her actions.

source:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lassitude
New Oxford American Dictionary

Vicious (Adjective)
– dangerously aggressive
– (of an act) intending to hurt badly, or (of a person or animal) likely to be violent

Taken from Cynthia Ozick’s “The Shawl”

“——Magda was dumb. Even the laugh that came when the ash-stippled wind made a clown out of Magda’s shawl was only the air-blown showing of her teeth. Even when the lice, head lice and body lice, crazed her so that she became as wild as one of the big rats that plundered the barracks at daybreak looking for carrion, she rubbed and scratched and kicked and bit and rolled without a whimper. But now Magda’s mouth was spilling a long vicious rope of clamor.”

In Cynthia Ozick’s “The Shawl, vicious was used to show Magda’s feelings when the shawl was taken away from her. It was said that even though she had other problems such as lice, she didn’t care, not a single cry about it, just as long as she have the shawl. Because of the use of “vicious” within the text, I was able to understand that the shawl is really important for Magda more than anything. Even though she doesn’t talk, the way she expressed herself in this way makes the reader somewhat empathize with her .

source:
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/vicious
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vicious