Term
|
Definition
desperately poor, without the basic necessities of life, miserable, despairing
“ ‘Five of those seven,’ says the principal, ‘get reduced-price lunches because they are classified as only poor, not destitute’”(3). |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
extremely dirty or unpleasant, usually the result of dire poverty
“The houses in which these children live, two thirds of which are owned by the City of New York, are often as squalid as the houses of the poorest children I have visited in rural Mississippi, but there is none of the greenness and the healing sweetness of the Mississippi countryside outside their windows, which are often barred and bolted as protection against thieves”(4). |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
cheerful and optimistic, almost seeming to float with happiness
“Cliffie, as we set out onto St. Anne’s Avenue, seems about as buoyant, and as lively, and as charmingly mysterious, as seven-year-olds anywhere”(6). |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
holding back agreement, a doubt
“He says it with so much thought and grown-up reservation, that his mother can’t help smiling,
even though it’s not a funny statement”(11). |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
likely or able to be influenced by a particular thing, vulnerable, defenseless
“Visibly fragile as a consequence of having AIDS and highly susceptible to chest infections, she lives with her son, who is a high school senior, in a first-floor apartment with three steel locks on the door”(12). |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
comfort or consolation in a time of sadness
“A nurse who works there, according to one press account, carries a card in her wallet with the
message, ‘Do Not Take Me to Harlem Hospital in an Emergency.’ The relative merits of Bronx-Lebanon, however, do not offer Mrs. Washington much solace”(16). |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
feeling or showing anger or annoyance at what is perceived to be unfair or unjust
“Although there are traces of impatience and sarcasm as she speaks, her comments on these matters, for the most part, are subdued, not openly indignant, and there is a quietness about her words as if she is already looking back on her life and on New York itself from a considerable distance”(16). |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
bad-tempered, sulky, gloomy
“Aimless men in sullen groups are gathered on the corner”(18). |
|
|
