Stories of Ourselves: "The Lemon Orchard" by Alex La Guma

In this short story, Alex La Guma explores oppression and racial tensions in South Africa.

Here are links to our lists for the short stories in Stories of Ourselves:
The Hollow of the Three Hills, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Signalman, The Happy Prince, The Yellow Wall Paper, The Son’s Veto, The Open Boat, The Moving Finger, The Door in the Wall, Sredni Vashtar, How It Happened, Her First Ball, The Lady in the Looking-Glass: A Reflection, The Fly in the Ointment, The Custody of the Pumpkin, An Englishman’s Home, The Phoenix, There Will Come Soft Rains, The Prison, The Destructors, Meteor, Billenium, The Lemon Orchard, The People Before, The Enemy, Five-Twenty, A Horse and Two Goats, Report on the Threatened City, The Rain Horse, Ming’s Biggest Prey, The Village Saint, Secrets, The Stoat, Games at Twilight, The Taste of Watermelon, Journey (Patricia Grace), The Bath, My Greatest Ambition, To Da-duh, in Memoriam, Of White Hairs and Cricket, Elephant, Sandpiper, Journey (Shirley Geok-Lin Um), The Third and Final Continent, Tyres, At Hiruharama, Real Time, On Her Knees, The Contest
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. monotonous
    sounded or spoken in a tone unvarying in pitch
    The night close around was quiet now that the crickets had stopped their small noises, but far out others that did not feel the presence of the men continued the monotonous creek-creek-creek.
  2. muzzle
    the open circular discharging end of a gun
    And he gestured in the dark with the muzzle of the gun at the man who stumbled along in their midst and who was the only one not warmly dressed.
  3. jeer
    laugh at with contempt and derision
    ‘Are you cold, hotnot?’ the man with the light jeered.
  4. silhouette
    an outline of a solid object as cast by its shadow
    He could see the silhouette of the man who carried the light, but he did not want to look at the two who flanked him, the one who had complained of the cold, and the one who had spoken of his fear.
  5. flank
    be located at the sides of something or somebody
    He could see the silhouette of the man who carried the light, but he did not want to look at the two who flanked him, the one who had complained of the cold, and the one who had spoken of his fear.
  6. corduroy
    thick cotton fabric with vertical ribs
    They each carried a sjambok and every now and then one of them slapped a corduroyed leg with his.
  7. bound
    confined by bonds
    The bound man felt the hard round metal of the gun muzzle through the loose raincoat and clenched his teeth.
  8. myriad
    a large indefinite number
    Now with the beam of the battery-lamp on his face the shadows in it were washed away to reveal the mass of tiny wrinkled and deep creases which covered the red-clay complexion of his face like the myriad lines which indicate rivers, streams, roads and railways on a map.
  9. range
    a series of hills or mountains
    They wound around the ridges of his chin and climbed the sharp range of his nose and the peaks of his chin and cheekbones, and his eyes were hard and blue like two frozen lakes.
  10. audacity
    aggressive or outright boldness
    He lives off our sweat, and he had the audacity to be cheeky and uncivilised towards a minister of our church...
  11. cheeky
    offensively bold
    He lives off our sweat, and he had the audacity to be cheeky and uncivilised towards a minister of our church...
  12. submit
    yield to the control of another
    He was angry over the delay and wanted the man to submit so that they could proceed.
  13. rambling
    spreading out in different directions
    The man stumbled, caught himself and stood in the rambling shadow of one of the lemon trees.
  14. dignity
    the quality of being worthy of esteem or respect
    ‘Yes, baas,’ the bound man said, speaking with a mixture of dignity and contempt which was missed by those who surrounded him.
  15. contempt
    lack of respect accompanied by a feeling of intense dislike
    ‘Yes, baas,’ the bound man said, speaking with a mixture of dignity and contempt which was missed by those who surrounded him.
  16. magistrate
    a lay judge or civil authority who administers the law
    ‘The amazing thing about it is that this bliksem should have taken the principal, and the meester of the church before the magistrate and demand payment for the hiding they gave him for being cheeky to them,’ the leader said to all in general.
  17. damages
    a sum of money paid in compensation for loss or injury
    ‘This time we will teach him a lesson, Oom. He won’t demand damages from anybody when we’re done with him.’
  18. particular
    exacting especially about details
    He will pack his things and go and live in the city where they’re not so particular about the dignity of the volk.
  19. inconsistent
    not in agreement
    The blackness of the night crouched over the orchard and the leaves rustled with a harsh whispering that was inconsistent with the pleasant scent of the lemons.
  20. quicksilver
    a metallic element that is liquid at ordinary temperatures
    The moonlight clung for a while to the leaves and the angled branches, so that along their tips and edges the moisture gleamed with the quivering shine of scattered quicksilver.
Created on Thu Mar 08 09:52:23 EST 2018 (updated Tue Mar 27 14:09:10 EDT 2018)

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