Author Archives: Shatoya

New , exciting words

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  1. Despatched
  2. suicide
  3. Valuation 
  4. pseudonym
  5. Trifle
  6. caricature
  7. Disprove
  8. Infinite
  9. gape
  10. incite
  11. bell jar
  12. accoutrement
  13. queer
  14. fictitious
  15. avaricious

 

I didn’t mind the glossary assignment r for this semester. I feel that I was enlightened by knowing the true definition of these words. Understanding what one specific word means can help to create a better understanding of the entire passage . though it takes a few minutes to loom up the definition of a specific word, when you are able to continue reading  the text is all of  a sudden that much more interesting.

Despatched

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“Her fictitious nature was of great assistance to her. It is far harder to kill a phantom than a reality. She was always creeping back when I thought I had despatched her. Though I flatter myself that I killed her in the end, the struggle was severe;”

http://i.word.com/idictionary/dispatch

Despatched (verb)

To kill with quick efficiency

 

 

that phantom in the room which was the angel had to go. It was very difficult for her to kill this phantom, because it wasn’t in the flesh, but yet in the mind. When she thought that she had killed this phantom with the quickness, and accuracy she turned out to be wrong.

 

Trifle

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“It was, too, as she was uncomfortably aware even a trifle ridiculous, and mentally caricatured herself, moving shuttle like from continent to continent.

 

Trifle (noun)

Something of little or no importance

Moving back and forth from continent to continent made began to make her feel a little irrelevant. She had not planted her feet long enough in one place to be taken seriously. She may have been her own worst critic but, moving about the way she did made her feel unimportant.

http://i.word.com/idictionary/trifle

Disproving

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“On the contrary, she was snubbed, slapped, lectured and exhorted. Her mind must have been strained and her vitality lowered by the need of opposing this, of disproving that”(246)

 

http://i.word.com/idictionary/disprove

disprove (Verb)

 

To prove to be false or wrong

Instead of being praised and adored she was abused. This woman was looked down upon and thought to be the lesser. No woman not even an artist or writer could prove a man wrong without being lowered. It was almost the culture in those times for a woman that has been seeking independence to be slapped, or lectured in the name of men’s superiority.

Infinite

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“That’s one of the reasons I never wanted to get married. The last thing I wanted was infinite security and to be the place an arrow shoots off from. I want change and excitement and to shoot off from a Fourth of July rocket”.

http://i.word.com/idictionary/infinite

infinite (adjective)

immeasurably or inconceivably great or extensive

 

Helga feared the idea of being kept. Marriage would mean that it would last forever, and he would be there to secure her indefinitely. Helga was looking for excitement in her life. Whatever changes they were to be made were not to include a man that would stagnate her. Marriage to Helga would almost feel like she was being held hostage.

Suicide

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“That morning , I had tried to hang myself. I had taken the silk cord of my mothers yellow bathrobe As soon as she left for work, and in the Amber shade of the bedroom, fashioned it into a knit that slipped up and down on itself. It took me a long time to do this, because I was poor at knits and had no idea how to make one”

http://i.word.com/idictionary/suicide

Suicide (noun)

 

The act or instance of taking one’s own life voluntarily and intentionally especially by a person of years of discretion and if sound mind

Though the specific word suicide was not in this passage I feel it is of great assistance in understanding the passage. This particular passage is an explanation of how Helga tried to take her own life. Her making knits and knits in the silk cord showed her volunteering to take her own life.

Gape

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She was incited to inflame attention and admiration. She was dressed for it, subtly schooled for it. And after a while she gave herself up wholly to the fascinating business of being seen, gaped at, desired. “

Gape (Verb)

To gaze stupidly or in open mouthed surprise or wonder

http://i.word.com/idictionary/gape

Helga was excited about her new clothes. She was infatuated with the idea that men would now be paying her more attention. This was a change for her. Helga was sure that her new appearance would shock everyone.

Incited

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” Incited. That was it, the guiding principle of her life in Copenhagen. She was incited to make an  impression. She was incited to inflame attention and admiration. She was dressed for it, subtly schooled for it. And after a while she gave herself up wholly to the fascinating business of being seen, gaped at, desired. “

Incited ( Verb)

To put in motion

http://i.word.com/idictionary/incite

Helga crane was ready to put her new self out there. This was an action that she was motivated to take. According to her clothes, and the attention to be drawn  by her appearance she would be accepted in Copenhagen. Helga crane was on the move and she was prepared for it.

 

 

 

Pseudonym

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Pseudonym (noun)

from the Greek pseudonymos bearing a false name

http://i.word.com/idictionary/pseudonym

The Bell Jar is a novel written by Sylvia Plath in the mid Twentieth Century. This novel was first released under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas. Sylvia Plath decided to use this name in hopes to avoid hurting people she cared for in America. This book had many editions since the first one. 

After reading the book, I was better able to understand why Ms. Plath would use a false name. There were a lot of content that would probably have offended some people, although this was just her outlook.

Bell Jar

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“To the person in the bell jar, blank and stopped as a dead baby, the world itself is a bad dream”. 

http://i.word.com/idictionary/bell%2520jar

bell Jar (noun)

:Bell shaped usually glass vessel designed to cover objects or to contain gases or a vacuum

Understanding what a bell jar is helps me to understand this passage better. The bell jar is really a metaphor for her “world”. The dead baby is of her spirit. not alive, suffication of her liberation. This spiritual death seemed more like a dream.