Circumvent (transitive verb) :to manage to get around especially by ingenuity or stratagem
From A Rose For Emily: “By the time it was a cabal, and we were all Miss Emily’s allies to help circumvent the cousins”
In the passage, it talks about getting rid of the cousins. Circumvent means to get around the cousins, to avoid them.
Vindicated (transitive verb): confirm, substantiate; to provide justification or defense for : justify
From A Rose For Emily: “So when she got to be thirty and was still single, we were not pleased exactly, but vindicated; even with insanity in the family she wouldn’t have turned down all of her chances if they had really materialized.”
Basically, it means a confirmation. That there can be a chance where she would meet someone to be with the rest of her life.
Gallantry (noun): dashing courage; heroic bravery; noble-minded behavior
From A Jury Of Her Peers: “And yet,” said he, with the gallantry of a young politician, “for all their worries, what would we do without the ladies?”
A young politician back then were probably seen as with power and respect, nowadays, there are seen also like that but one would think that they are just corrupting our system to fit their needs. So now, I understand that the way he talked, had some emphasis due to him being a politician.
Queer (Adj): differing in some odd way from what is usual or normal; of a questionable nature or character; suspicious; shady
From A Jury Of Her Peers: ” He didn’t begin at once, and she had noticed that he looked queer–as if standing in that kitchen and having to tell what he had seen there yesterday morning made him almost sick.”
From what I finally understand from this passge, is that, she was noticing that Mr. Hale looked odd, in which, she was trying to figure out his questionable nature that made him sick.
Scarcely (adv): barely; hardly; not quite; insufficient to satisfy the need or demand; not abundant
From A Jury Of Her Peers: “Mrs. Hale scarcely finished her reply, for they had gone up a little hill and could see the Wright place now, and seeing it did not make her feel like talking.
Seeing what the definition is, I can see that she barely finished what she had to say because she was closing in on the Wright place, approaching her destination to where she knew it was a lonesome place.
Giddy (adj.): impulsive; flighty
From The Shawl: “A power surged up from the center of me, and I danced at him, light and giddy, full of a heady rightness”
From what I can understand this, was that the son was sort of impulsive in a way also because his father was drunk and he did it to protect his siblings.
Mended (Transitive verb): to put into good shape or working order again; to improve or strengthen (as a relationship) by negotiation or conciliation.
From The Shawl: “What had thrust in her heart? Had something broken inside her, too, as it had in him? Even then, he knew that this broken place inside him would not be mended, except by terrible means…. page 3
Now I understand that his father’s heart could not be fixed, to have it working again like any normal happy person, that his heart won’t improve.
adjective: gloomily or resentfully silent or repressed
From “The Shawl”
“She was moody and sullen one moment, her lower lip jutting and her eyes flashing, filled with storms. The next, she would shake her hair over her face and blow it straight out in front of her to make her children scream with laughter.”
adjective :rejecting or lacking the capacity for social interaction
from “What You Pawn I Will Redeem”
“Of course, crazy is not the official definition of my mental problem, but I don’t think asocial disorder fits it, either, because that makes me sound like I’m a serial killer or something.”
noun : an American Indian social gathering or fair usually including competitive dancing
from- What You Pawn I Will Redeem
“I didn’t know for sure, because I hadn’t seen that regalia in person ever. I’d only seen photographs of my grandmother dancing in it. And those were taken before somebody stole it from her, fifty years ago. But it sure looked like my memory of it, and it had all the same color feathers and beads that my family sewed into our powwow regalia.”
noun :a structure built along or at an angle from the shore of navigable waters so that ships may lie alongside to receive and discharge cargo and passengers
From: What You Pawn I Will Redeem
“Back on the wharf, I stood near the Bainbridge Island Terminal and tried to sell papers to business commuters boarding the ferry.”
solitary : adjective
occurring singly and not as part of a group or cluster
from : What You Pawn I Will Redeem
“I took my grandmother’s regalia and walked outside. I knew that solitary yellow bead was part of me. I knew I was that yellow bead in part.”
To remain silent or hold oneself aloof in a sullen, ill-humored, or offended mood(Beloved)
To walk with a vain, pompous bearing, as with head erect andchest thrown out, as if expecting to impress observers.( Beloved)
A person or company that makes a high-quality or distinctive product in small quantities, usually by hand or using traditional methods ( The runaway slaves)
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