Serenade:noun: A musical performance given to honor or express love for someone, often by one person
Source: https://www.thefreedictionary.com/serenading
From: “What You Pawn I Will Redeem” by Sherman Alexie
“Honey Boy danced a slow circle around us and sang along with Willie.
“Are you serenading me?” I asked him.”
Serenade is used by the author to jokingly describe how Honey Boy is dancing, in a possibly romantic manner, with the protagonist.
Stenosis (noun) – a narrowing or constriction of the diameter of a bodily passage or orifice.
Source: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stenosis
From: “The Cheater’s Guide to Love” by Junot Diaz
“The numbness in your arms and legs increases. You return to your doctors and they send you over to a neurologist, who sends you out for an MRI. Looks like you have stenosis all down your spine, the doctor reports, impressed.”
Here, the word stenosis is used to describe a condition that the narrator is suffering from. He is unable to lift heavy weights now. This shows that the narrator is getting older and probably won’t have the ability to actively date now. Also, due to the depression from his ex-girlfriend leaving him, the narrator is gaining weight and his spine is unable to support it.
Homely: adjective: lacking in physical attractiveness; not beautiful; unattractive
Source: http://www.dictionary.com/browse/homely
From: “What You Pawn I Will Redeem” by Sherman Alexie
” “Hey, ” I said, “you’ve got to have a home to be that homely.” He just laughed and flipped me the eagle and walked away.”
Homely is used to describe how ugly the homeless person that the protagonist is talking to, in a joking manner.
Erattic (adjective) – characterized by lack of consistency, regularity, or uniformity
Source: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/erratic
From: “The Cheater’s Guide to Love” by Junot Diaz
“You’re fine for, like, a week. Then your moods become erratic. One minute you have to stop yourself from jumping in the car and driving to see her and the next you’re calling a sucia and saying, You’re the one I always wanted. You start losing your temper with friends, with students, with colleagues. You cry every time you hear Monchy y Alexandra, her favorite.”
The author uses the word erratic here to show how the feelings of the narrator are conflicted. He is unsure of what to do, and when to do it. The narrator’s fiancée leaves him after she finds out that he is cheating on her. Now, he is going through a period of grief and he wants to try and get her back, but a part of him wants to be with other women. So, he is unable to maintain a consistent mood.
Capricious:adjective: subject to, led by, or indicative of a sudden, odd notion or unpredictable change; erratic
Source: http://www.dictionary.com/browse/capricious
From: “The Shawl” by Louise Erdrich, page 5
“He became, for us, a thing to be avoided, outsmarted and exploited. We survived off him as if he were a capricious and dangerous line of work.”
Capricious is used to describe how the father of the protagonist behaves. The father’s excessive drinking has made him something to be feared by his own children because of his unpredictable behavior.
: any of various marine gastropods (family Cypraeidae) that are widely distributed in warm seas and have glossy and often brightly colored shells; also : the shell of a cowrie(Merriam-Webster)
I came across this word while reading You In America where the speaker says “His mother told you she loved your braids, asked if those were real cowries strung through them and what female writers you read.” Knowing what a cowrie is would help the reader visualize what the speaker looks like.
: very serious or formal in manner, behavior, or expression
: sad and serious
: done or made sincerely
(Merriam-Webster)
I came across this word while reading You In America where the speaker says: “But you did not tell him because he would look solemn and hold your hand and tell you it was your burnished skin color that first attracted him.” This helps the reader understand that she did not tell him because she thought it would make him sad.
: weakly and effusively sentimental(Merriam-Webster)
I came across this word while reading “You In America” where the reader says: ” After your shift that day, he was waiting outside, leaning by a pole, asking you to go out with him because your name rhymed with hakuna matata and The Lion King was the only maudlin movie he’d ever liked.”
: showing or characterized by a patronizing or superior attitude toward others
I came across this word while reading You In America where the speaker says: “You wanted to feel disdain, to show it as you brought his order, because white people who liked Africa too much and who liked Africa too little were the same—condescending. ” This helps the reader understand that the speaker views the white people who spoke of Africa to have a sense of superiority or arrogance.
: a feeling of contempt for someone or something regarded as unworthy or inferior
I came across this word while reading “You In America” where the speaker says: “You wanted to feel disdain, to show it as you brought his order, because white people who liked Africa too much and who liked Africa too little were the same—condescending.” This shows that she naturally felt like she needed to feel contempt or offended by him due to her experience with other white people, but she didnt feel that way since he did not act the way she expected him to.
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