"Queen of Water," Part 3 Vocabulary

Join Primary Source’s “Global Read” of Laura Resau’s novel “The Queen of Water.” “The Queen of Water” tells of the life of an indigenous Ecuadorian girl who works as a servant for a mestizo family. Based on the true story of María Virginia Farinango.
“The Queen of Water,” Part 1 Vocabulary
“The Queen of Water,” Part 2 Vocabulary
50 words 16 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. rage
    a feeling of intense anger
    As though she’d forgotten about all the times I’d hit her and refused to share fruit and yelled at her in a jealous rage over who would get the biggest potato.
  2. lure
    provoke someone to do something through persuasion
    Then, despite their protests, I lured them to the table and made a speech.
  3. prestigious
    having an excellent reputation; respected
    The Doctorita loves to brag that he’s at the top of his class in the most prestigious colegio in Otavalo, Republica de Ecuador, the colegio where her own smart boys would surely go one day.
  4. rabid
    infected by an acute viral disease of the nervous system
    But there’s only this crazy-eyed man cornering me like a rabid dog, acting as if he wants to tear me to pieces.
  5. rapt
    feeling great delight and interest
    Santiago sits through it silently, his eyebrows furrowed, mouth parted in rapt attention, holding Matilde’s hand as she grasps his more and more tightly.
  6. saturate
    infuse or fill completely
    The sour smells of wood smoke and wool and cows cling to him, saturating his poncho, his rough skin.
  7. submissive
    inclined or willing to give in to orders or wishes of others
    My father stands up and my mother follows, hanging her head like a submissive indigena wife, and then Santiago and Matilde stride to the door, hand in hand, glaring at Nino Carlitos.
  8. yearn
    desire strongly or persistently
    Mamita serves me first, giving me the biggest piece of chicken and the biggest potato from the soup, what I yearned for so much as a little girl.
  9. swarm
    a group of many things in the air or on the ground
    Mamita is busy butchering guinea pigs in a swarm of flies under a tree.
  10. carcass
    the dead body of an animal
    After slitting the creatures’ throats, she lowers the barely dead carcasses into boiling water, then tears off their fur.
  11. deft
    skillful in physical movements; especially of the hands
    With deft hands, she slices open their bellies, pulls out their goopy organs, and washes their flesh in a bucket so they’re ready for roasting.
  12. disheveled
    in disarray; extremely disorderly
    Her belly is still swollen from childbirth and her hair disheveled and her face weary without makeup.
  13. contaminate
    make impure
    Now that a longa used them all these years, they’re contaminated.
  14. tragedy
    an event resulting in great loss and misfortune
    As I finish Soledad’s story, I know that despite her tragedies, she will go far in life, even though she will have to live with this piece of sadness inside her forever.
  15. impoverished
    poor enough to need help from others
    These middle-class indfgenas came from Otavalo or less impoverished communities, and owned shops or market stands or export businesses.
  16. disdain
    look down on with contempt
    The shopkeepers openly disdain them, not even bothering to use the polite usted form.
  17. vibrant
    vigorous and animated
    It’s as if the book is breathing and pulsing in my hand, buzzing with its own vibrant energy.
  18. rustic
    characteristic of rural life
    I’m careful to paint a picture of myself as gente de close, a middle-class mestizo girl from a nice family with a rustic home in the country.
  19. vendor
    someone who exchanges goods or services for money
    She’s sincere and thoughtful and observant and asks unexpected questions, like “What do dogs dream about?” or “Would you rather be able to fly or read minds?” or “Have you noticed that the snack vendor on the comer always wears purple pants?”
  20. vulnerable
    capable of being wounded or hurt
    But these precious relationships seem tender, vulnerable, at the risk of disappearing with one wrong word from my mouth.
  21. prejudice
    a partiality preventing objective consideration of an issue
    Which leads to the slippery conclusion: despite their prejudice against indigenas, especially poor ones, the mestizos value Quichua culture.
  22. wince
    draw back, as with fear or pain
    Earlier this morning, in the pitch black, I bathed and washed my hair in the wooden shack out back, crouching, shivering, wincing beneath buckets of frigid water.
  23. frigid
    extremely cold
    Earlier this morning, in the pitch black, I bathed and washed my hair in the wooden shack out back, crouching, shivering, wincing beneath buckets of frigid water.
  24. poverty
    the state of having little or no money and possessions
    If I keep this up, it’s only a matter of time before my classmates and coworkers discover my family’s poverty.
  25. commute
    a regular journey to and from your place of work
    “Your long commute’s been hard on you, hasn’t it?”
  26. allure
    the power to entice or attract
    Being a little older than my classmates adds to my allure; they look up to me, admire me even.
  27. novelty
    originality by virtue of being refreshingly new
    After a few days, the novelty wears off, and they seem to forget about it.
  28. boisterous
    marked by exuberance and high spirits
    I’m ten minutes early to meet Sonia for a study session, and as I wait, I can’t help but overhear the boisterous laughter of two men.
  29. sneer
    express through a scornful smile
    She loves going to the club, even though she makes fun of the snobs who go there by sneering and strutting around with her nose twitching high in the air.
  30. hygiene
    a condition promoting sanitary practices
    The idiots in charge think the indigenas don’t have good hygiene or something.
  31. enunciate
    express or state clearly
    And she speaks Spanish perfectly, an educated Spanish, enunciating all her words delicately.
  32. revive
    give new life or energy to
    "They stopped doing the competition about twelve years ago, and now we’re reviving it!”
  33. refined
    cultivated and genteel
    When Don Lucho finds out we’re practicing refined manners, after a lot of teasing, he lends me Modem Etiquette, a well- worn paperback with water-stained, yellowed pages.
  34. vital
    performing an essential function in the living body
    “I believe that preschool education is vital for indigenous children in poor communities.
  35. vehemently
    in a forceful manner
    She shakes her head vehemently and a frantic string of Quichua words pours from her mouth.
  36. gumption
    fortitude and determination
    I admired your gumption.
  37. accentuate
    stress or single out as important
    Susana did my makeup—sparkly silver eye shadow on the lids, a dark pencil to make my eyebrows dramatic, blush to accentuate my cheekbones.
  38. era
    a period marked by distinctive character
    The news reporters are crouched in front of the stage, cameras ready to snap photos.
  39. cameo
    engraving or carving in low relief on a stone
    It’s a gold cameo with a creamy pink face in the center.
  40. culmination
    a concluding action
    I’m trying to get all my homework done today, because tomorrow morning is the big procession, the culmination of all the queen events, when I’ll be paraded through the city with Luz and Elsa.
  41. detached
    showing lack of emotional involvement
    “Hello, senora,” I say in what I hope is a cool, detached voice.
  42. distraught
    deeply agitated especially from emotion
    Even though you left a distraught woman who had just given birth after a dangerous pregnancy.
  43. indebted
    owing gratitude to another for help or favors
    She wants me to be indebted to her for my education, for my career, for my house.
  44. oppress
    cause to suffer
    If I say yes, it won’t just be her winning, it will be another mestizo oppressing an indigena.
  45. throng
    a large gathering of people
    I weave my way through the throngs to the meeting place, where Susana and the organizers and the other queens are waiting.
  46. torrent
    an overwhelming number or amount
    Off they go in a torrent of earsplitting music.
  47. tranquil
    free from disturbance by heavy waves
    I feel like water that transforms from a flowing river to a tranquil lake to a powerful waterfall to a freshwater spring to a meandering creek to a salty sea to raindrops gentle on your face to hard, stinging hail to frost on a mountaintop, and back to a river again.
  48. melody
    a succession of notes forming a distinctive sequence
    Melodies emerge, patterns that I couldn’t quite make sense of at the time.
  49. savior
    a person who rescues you from harm or danger
    Now I see that sometimes the person you thought was your enemy was really your teacher, or even, in an odd way, your savior.
  50. seam
    joint consisting of a line formed by joining two pieces
    I see that if you try to fit someone in a box, she might slip through the seams like water and become her own river.
Created on Wed Sep 05 16:36:27 EDT 2012 (updated Wed Sep 05 22:22:24 EDT 2012)

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