• Imperviousness (noun): not capable of being affected or disturbed
  • Source: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/impervious
  • Taken from: A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner
    • “It was as if she demanded more than ever that recognition of her dignity as the last Grierson; as if it had wanted that touch of earthiness to reaffirm her imperviousness.”
  • Although Emily has no money to her name, she continues to hold her head high and effortlessly demands the respect she believes to deserve. The author’s use of the word imperviousness is to stress Emily’s foothold in the town and her indifference towards what others think of her.

Alderman, noun: a member of a municipal legislative body, especially of a municipal council.

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

We encountered this word multiple times while reading “A Rose for Emily.” The first time it appears is in the fourth paragraph of the first section, which details how the members of the new town government wanted Miss Emily to pay taxes in the town. Here’s an excerpt of the paragraph:

“When the next generation, with its more modern ideas, became mayors and aldermen, this arrangement created some little dissatisfaction. On the first of the year they mailed her a tax notice. February came, and there was no reply. They wrote her a formal letter, asking her to call at the sheriff’s office at her convenience. A week later the mayor wrote her himself, offering to call or to send his car for her, and received in reply a note on paper of an archaic shape, in a thin, flowing calligraphy in faded ink, to the effect that she no longer went out at all. The tax notice was also enclosed, without comment.”

Calligraphy (noun) – beautiful artistic handwriting

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

In “A Rose for Emily”, it says, “A week later the mayor wrote her himself, offering to call or to send his car for her, and received in reply a note on paper of an archaic shape, in a thin, flowing calligraphy in faded ink, to the effect that she no longer went out at all.”

In that quote from “A Rose for Emily”, the word calligraphy is used to identify the handwriting of the Miss Emily and help visualize the note that she wrote back in response to the mayor that it was nicely written.

Encroached (verb) – to enter by gradual steps or by stealth into the possessions or rights of another

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

From “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner

I came across this word while reading “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner. It appears around the beginning of the reading when the author describes the relation between the neighborhood and the garages/cotton gins, it caught my interest because I had an idea of what it meant but didn’t know it’s exact definition so it made me curious to find out what the writer was trying to illustrate in the story.

“But garages and cotton gins had encroached and obliterated even the august names of that neighborhood; only Miss Emily’s house was left, lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps-an eyesore among eyesores.”

After reading the definition of the word I better understand the context of how the author was using it in that part of the text. As seen in the quote, it’s used to describe how the garages and cotton gins slowly invaded the neighborhood, changing it in a way it wasn’t before.