Untenanted: (Noun)
Definition: an occupant or inhabitant of any place.
Dictionary.com
Else, why should it be let so cheaply? And why have stood so long untenanted?
I now understand that this word is telling us that the place had no one living in it for a while.
Seldom: (Adverb)
Definition: on only a few occasions; rarely; infrequently; not often.
Dictionary.com
It is very seldom that mere ordinary people like John and myself secure ancestral halls for the summer.
I now understand that the author was literally trying to say that it was rare for people like her and John to do this.
Eccentric-(Adjective)
Definition:deviating from the recognized or customary character, practice, etc.; irregular; erratic; peculiar; odd.
Dictionary.com
The working basis of the establishment was an eccentric woman named
Caswell, a sort of musical enthusiast, who had a summer school of music
and the “higher things.” Malicious persons, not able to obtain
accommodations there, called the place “High C.”
The way the word is used in the passage is just suggesting that the women has a weird personality.
Cultivating-(Verb)
Definition: to develop or improve by education or training; train; refine.
Dictionary.com
The voice Helen Furr was cultivating was quite a pleasant one. The voice Georgine Skeene was cultivating was, some said, a better one. The voice Helen Furr was cultivating she cultivated and it was quite completely a pleasant enough one then, a cultivated enough one then. The voice Georgine Skeene was cultivating she did not cultivate too much. She cultivated it quite some. She cultivated and she would sometime go on cultivating it and it was not then an unpleasant one, it would not be then an unpleasant one, it would be a quite richly enough cultivated one, it would be quite richly enough to be a pleasant enough one.
The word in the texts means that they were, improving their voices.
Indeterminate – Adjective
Definition- not able to be stated or described in an exact way
Source – http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/indeterminate?show=0&t=1400613607
Found in – ” There was Once ” by Margaret Atwood
Passage – ” There was once a girl of indeterminate descent, as average- looking as she was good, who lived with her wicked”
This was one of the correction that the second speakers makes while the first speaker is telling the story. The second speaker states that the character of the original Cinderella story was already from the dominate culture which is white, that the story should be different. That Cinderella should be from some other culture but by saying indeterminate to says that the race is unknown so every reader could assume she from any place.
Bell Jar – noun
Definition – a bell-shaped usually glass vessel designed to cover objects or to contain gases or a vacuum
Source – http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bell+jar?show=0&t=1400612972
Found in – The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
Passage – “wherever I satâon the deck of a ship or at a street cafĂ© in Paris or BangkokâI would be sitting under the same glass bell jar, stewing in my own sour air”
Throughout this story the significance of the bell jar was very important here we see Esther feeling that she is inside of a bell jar because she is suffocating within her own thoughts. Esther is not able to express what she truly feels in this is why she feels trap.
Monstrous – Adjective
Definition – very wrong or unfair
Source –http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/monstrous
Found in – ” The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin
Passage – ” She did not stop to ask if it were or were not a monstrous joy that held her”
Ms. Mallard was so happy that she will now live for herself for the upcoming years that she didn’t even question if the joy she was feeling was something wrong because she really was supposed to be sad that her husband passed away.
Evasion- noun
Â
Definition:a way of avoiding something
Source:http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/evasion
Found in: âThe Bell Jarâ by Sylvia Plath
Passage: â I donât know just why my successful evasion of chemistry should Have floated into my mind there in Jay Ceeâs officeâ
I know understand that She was asking herself why she starting to think about the unpleasant experience she had during chemistry while she was attending school.
Sanatorium -noun
Â
Definition:Â an establishment that provides therapy combined with a regimen (as of diet and exercise) for treatment or rehabilitation
Source:http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sanatorium
Found in: âThe Bell Jarâ by Sylvia Plath
Passage: â Buddy mother had even arranged for me to be given a job as a waitress at the TB sanatorium that summer so Buddy wouldnât be lonelyâ
I now understand that this was the place Buddy was taken to so he could receive treatment for his disease.
 Congenial â adjective
Definition: existing or associated together harmoniously
Source:http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/congenial
Found in: â The Yellow Wallpaperâ by Charlotte Perkins
Passage: â Personally, I believe that congenial word, with excitement and change , would do me good. But what is one to do?
Understanding what the word mean I see that the narrator actually believes that if she had something to do or as to interacting with other people she will actually feel better. I agree with her because itâs like her husband has he isolated from the world not letting her to nothing or interact with no one else but himself and his sister. I think if he actually let her write freely she will feel better about herself.
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