Category Archives: Glossary

Glossary

Bemused

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Cedar is a kind of wood.

Bemused (verb)- to cause (someone) to be confused. Merrian-Webster; disoriented, discombobulated,  puzzled, and clueless.

Located on first page “A Rose for Emily” 2nd paragraph; last sentence. And now Miss Emily had gone to join the representatives of those august names where they lay in the cedar-bemused cemetery among the ranked and anonymous graves of Union and Confederate soldiers who fell at the battle of Jefferson.

…..lay in the cedar- (discombobulated) cemetery…..

Emily, was just another dead black in a town full of violent history and deaths; without care or even a proper burial spot, she was amongst the ranked to the anonymous. Would a fair contribution by Emily to Jefferson taxes, change the way she was buried? Remember, Emily never  paid any  taxes thanks to Colonel Sartorial which died years ago . Emily, had no interest whatsoever about  the new Jefferson.

 

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Glossary

Jalousies

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Jalousies (noun) – a window made of adjustable glass louvers that control ventilation.

This was found in “A Rose for Emily,” on page 4, 4th paragraph. “This behind their hands; rustling of craned silk and satin behind jalousies closed upon the sun of Sunday as the thin, swift clop-clop-clop of the matched team passed: “Poor Emily.””

Knowing the definition of the word, I understand that it was used to represent a window behind the craned silk and satin. By “behind their hands,” Faulkner is talking about people women in silk and satin dresses(craned silk and satin) who spy on Emily and Homer, and talk about them behind the closed windows.

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Glossary

Disdainful

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Disdainful (adjective) – felling strong dislike or disapproval for something or someone you think does not deserve respect.

This was found in “A Jury of Her Peers,” on page 266, 4th paragraph. “Then, as if releasing herself from something strange, Mrs. Hale began to arrange the dirty pans under the sink, which the country attorney’s disdainful push of the foot had deranged.”

Knowing the definition of the word, I now understand that the attorney disapproved of the conditions of the house, which included the dirty towels and dirty pans.

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Glossary

A Rose For Emily Homework

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Thwarted (verb)

(1) to oppose successfully; prevent from accomplishing a purpose.

(2) to frustrate or baffle (a plan, Purpose, etc.).

found in “A Rose for Emily” Part 4 paragraph 5

Then we knew that this was to be excepted too; as if that quality of her father which had thwarted her woman’s life so many times had been too virulent and too furious to die.

Emily’s father opposed all of the men in Emily’s life and she was never able to pursue a proper and healthy relationship and because of this it drove Emily to the point of insanity. Even once her father passed away she still was not able to pursue a proper relationship with Homer Barron and in the end went completely insane and killed him by giving him poison to drink.

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Glossary

Dispensation

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Dispensation (noun):

(1) a:  a general state or ordering of things; specifically:  a system of revealed commands and promises regulating human affairs

b:  a particular arrangement or provision especially of providence or nature

(2) a: an exemption from a law or from an impediment, vow, or oath

b : a formal authorization (Merriam-Webster)

Found on Page I, Paragraph 3 of “A Rose for Emily”–>“Alive, Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town, dating from that day in 1894 when Colonel Sartoris, the mayor–he who fathered the edict that no Negro woman should appear on the streets without an apron-remitted her taxes, the dispensation dating from the death of her father on into perpetuity.”

I believe the word in this quote means that Colonel Sartorise exempted Miss Emily from paying taxes because her father was once seen as a person of prestige aristocratic upbringings.

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Glossary

Remitted

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Remitted (verb): to send (money) as a payment: to cancel or free someone from (a punishment, debt, etc.) (Merriam-Webster)

Found on Page I, Paragraph 3 of “A Rose for Emily”–>“Alive, Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town, dating from that day in 1894 when Colonel Sartoris, the mayor–he who fathered the edict that no Negro woman should appear on the streets without an apron-remitted her taxes, the dispensation dating from the death of her father on into perpetuity.”

I believe the word in this quote means that Colonel Sartoris canceled Miss Emily’s tax payments because her father, including the entire Grierson family, was once seen as prestigious aristocrat family.

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Glossary, Week 1

Acquiescene

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Acquiescene (noun)

“A Jury of Her Peers” by: Susan Glaspell

“in her manner of timid acquiescene” P 267 line 14

“in her manner of timid accepting the demand”

definition (from Merriam-Website) http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/acquiescence

accepting demands in a polite manner

generates from acquiescent to accept or allow demands from others

 

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Glossary

Coquettish

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Coquette (noun): a woman who likes to win the attention or admiration of men but does not have serious feelings for them (Merriam-Webster)

Found on Page I, paragraph 2 of “A Rose for Emily”–>“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.”

I believe the word in this quote means that although Miss Emily’s home was old and worn out, it still caught the attention of the onlookers that passed by her home because of its depleting appearance.

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Glossary

Encroached

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  • Encroached verb -to gradually move or go into an area that is beyond the usual or desired limits. via Merriam-Webster.com

 

  • Encountered in the short story “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner, Section I,  paragraph two, sentence two.

 

  • “It was a big, squarish frame house that had once been white, decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies in the heavily lightsome style of the seventies, set on what had once been our most select street. 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. ” – Narrator

 

  • Now knowing what this term means, I could now visualize what Emily’s surroundings look like. What once was a well-kept and beautiful home is now littered with cotton gins,that seems to invade or intrude the neighborhood.

                                              Visual Aid

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Glossary

Peddler

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Peddler noun \ˈped-lər\

a : one who offers merchandise (as fresh produce) for sale along the street or from door to door

In the street below a peddler was crying his wares.

The Story of An Hour paragraph 5

I thought a peddler had something to do with a boat. I realized it meant a merchant which helped me understand the setting better. She [Louise] wasn’t overlooking a canal (like in Venice, Italy) and there wasn’t a man on a gondola peddling.

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