Adjective
1. lacking in variety ; tediously unvarying
2.characterizing a sound continuing on one note.
“She became a gray sky, stared monotonously at the walls, sometimes wept in her hands for hour at a time.”
“The Shawl” by Louise Erdrich
Category Archives: Glossary
Sassafras
1. an American tree, Sassafras albidum, of the laurel family, having egg-shaped leaves and long clusters of greenish-yellow flowers.
2. the aromatic bark of its root, used medicinally and especially for flavoring beverages, confectionery, etc.
“Was a leaf thing too they gave em to chew on. Mint, I believe, or sassafras.”
Pg 188 (red cover) in “Beloved” by Toni Morrison
Capricious
Aleut
2. the language of the Aleuts, distantly related to Eskimo: a member of the Eskimo-Aleut family.
“When I got to the wharf, I ran into three Aleut cousins, who sat on a wooden bench and stared out at the bay and cried.
In “What You Pawn I Will Redeem” by Sherman Alexie
Regalia
Regalia noun \ri-ˈgāl-yə\
a : special clothes and decorations (such as a crown or scepter) for official ceremonies
b : special clothing of a particular kind
“But the strangest thing of all was the old powwow-dance regalia I saw hanging in the window.”
What you Pawn I will Redeem paragraph 6
I don’t know what I expected regalia to be but it wasn’t a special adornment. I thought it to be an heirloom of sorts that was passed down from previous generations.
Placid
Smother
Smother verb \ˈsmə-thər\
a : to kill (someone) by covering the face so that breathing is not possible
b : to try to keep (something) from happening : to try to stop doing (something)
“She was afraid to fall asleep; she slept with the weight of her thigh on Magda’s body; she was afraid she would smother Magda under her thigh.”
The Shawl paragraph 6
Rosa is afraid to fall asleep because she was scared the weight of her thigh might kill baby Magda.
Exploited
Exploit verb \ik-ˈsploit, ˈek-ˌ\
a: to make productive use of : utilize <exploiting your talents> <exploit your opponent’s weakness>
b: to make use of meanly or unfairly for one’s own advantage <exploiting migrant farm workers>
“He became, for us, a thing to be avoided, outsmarted, and exploited.”
The Shawl paragraph 11
Initially I thought of exploited as a noun and it didn’t make much sense since the other two words were verbs. The father was a thing for that was to be avoided, outsmarted and utilized.
Mirth
Noun
- Amusement, especially as expressed in laughter.
“Thus far, the elder traveller had listened with due gravity, but now burst into a fit of irrepressible mirth, shaking himself so violently, that his snake-like staff actually seemed to wriggle in sympathy.” (Hawthrone 22, PDF) – Young Goodman Brown
Persecution
Noun
- Hostility and ill treatment, especially because of race or political or religious beliefs.
- persistent annoyance or harassment.
“Baby Suggs died shortly after the brothers left, with no interest whatsoever in their leave-taking or hers, and right afterward Sethe and Denver decided to end the persecution by calling forth the ghost that tried them so.” (Morrison 1, PDF) – Beloved
