Half of a Yellow Sun: Chapters 19–24

by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
In 1967, the Republic of Biafra declared independence from Nigeria, leading to civil war. This novel traces the lives of several characters who get caught up in turmoil of the Biafran War.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–3, Chapters 4–10, Chapters 11–18, Chapters 19–24, Chapters 25–28, Chapters 29–37

Here are links to our lists for other works by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: Americanah, Purple Hibiscus
15 words 28 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. undue
    lacking justification or authorization
    Ugwu tried to believe Jomo, that he was reading undue meaning into Mama’s actions, until he walked into the kitchen the next evening, after weeding his herb garden, and saw the flies in a foaming mass by the sink.
  2. convoluted
    highly complex or intricate
    She looked around his room and thought how unfamiliar his large bed was; she had never seen that lustrous shade of gold on a blanket before or noticed how intricately convoluted the metal handles of his chest of drawers were.
  3. abase
    cause to feel shame
    She told Odenigbo about it on the phone, how it repulsed her to see that elderly man abase himself so, how she was certain her mother would have fired him but only after an hour of reveling in his groveling and in her own self-righteous outrage.
  4. catty
    deliberately and often slyly spiteful or cruel
    “She said something catty the other day about people whose daughters have refused to marry. I think she was throwing words at me and wanted to see if I would throw them back at her...."
  5. pestle
    a hand tool for grinding and mixing substances in a mortar
    “No.” Aunty Ifeka put the pestle down. “Mba. You will go back to Nsukka.”
  6. sate
    fill to contentment
    She did not let her leftover jollof rice warm properly but ate it all from the pot, drank two cold bottles of beer, and still did not feel sated.
  7. covert
    secret or hidden
    The two women standing at the shop entrance, the Indian in the Faculty of Science and the Calabar woman who taught anthropology, smiled and said good afternoon, and she wondered if their covert glances shielded their pity, if they thought she was falling apart and weak.
  8. fiasco
    a complete failure or collapse
    She would be her normal gracious self and they would drink wine and talk about his book and her new zinnias and Igbo-Ukwu art and the Western Region elections fiasco.
  9. macabre
    shockingly repellent; inspiring horror
    ‘“The Basket of Hands.’” Olanna tilted her glass and finished her drink. “It sounds macabre.”
  10. hypocritical
    professing feelings or virtues one does not have
    Richard wanted to say something about her disloyalty to her friend and then realized how hypocritical it would sound, even if only to himself.
  11. austere
    severely simple
    Olanna stood in Richard’s living room. Its austere emptiness made her nervous; she wished he had pictures or books or Russian dolls that she could look at.
  12. ephemeral
    lasting a very short time
    She thought about how ephemeral life was, about not choosing misery.
  13. serendipity
    good luck in making unexpected and fortunate discoveries
    Instead, holding that tiny warm body, she had felt a conscious serendipity, a sense that this may not have been planned but had become, the minute it happened, what was meant to be.
  14. jibe
    an aggressive remark directed at a person
    She was used to his gentle jibes about her social-service faith and she would have responded to say that she was not even sure she believed in a Christian God that could not be seen.
  15. stoic
    seeming unaffected by pleasure or pain; impassive
    Kainene greeted him with a stoic face in the morning.
Created on Wed Apr 10 17:50:44 EDT 2019 (updated Thu Aug 07 15:32:35 EDT 2025)

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