Stories of Ourselves: "The Enemy" by V.S. Naipaul

The narrator of this story recounts the complex and difficult relationship he has with his mother in Trinidad.

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
20 words 183 learners

Learn words with Flashcards and other activities

Definition First
Print Flashcards

Other learning activities

Answer a few questions about each word. Use this to prep for your next quiz! Compete with other teams in real time to see who answers the most questions correctly! Test your spelling acumen. Read the definition, listen to the word and try spelling it!

Teaching tools

Create and assign quizzes to your students to test their vocabulary. Assign learning activities including Practice, Vocabulary Jams and Spelling Bees to your students, and monitor their progress in real-time.

Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. ensure
    make certain of
    In fact, Cunupia and Tableland are the two parts of Trinidad where murders occur often enough to ensure quick promotion for the policemen stationed there.
  2. barrack
    a building or group of buildings to house military personnel
    At first we lived in the barracks, but then my father wanted to move to a little wooden house not far away.
  3. tramp
    a heavy footfall
    And at four or five o’clock when the morning light was coming up we would hear the tramp of feet in the bush, feet going away.
  4. pelt
    attack and bombard with or as if with missiles
    He also lost his temper more often with my mother, and the time came when as soon as she entered a room he would scream and pelt things at her.
  5. merely
    and nothing more
    Once the attendant had tied the laces up for me, I never undid them, and merely slipped my feet in and out of the shoes.
  6. idle
    exist in a changeless situation
    There was still another boy who at the age of thirteen was earning a good twenty dollars a month, while I was just idling and living off her blood.
  7. glimpse
    a vague indication
    Still, there were surprising glimpses of kindness.
  8. stiff
    having a strong physiological or chemical effect
    She thought that there was no illness in the world a stiff dose of hot Epsom Salts couldn’t cure.
  9. penance
    voluntary self-punishment in order to atone for something
    That was a penance I had to endure once a month.
  10. endure
    undergo or be subjected to
    That was a penance I had to endure once a month.
  11. sediment
    matter that has been deposited by some natural process
    All the Health Office medicines were the same. Water and pink sediment half an inch thick.
  12. impression
    a vague idea in which some confidence is placed
    But you mustn’t get the impression that I was a saint all the time.
  13. dishonor
    bring shame upon
    I used to feel that I would dishonour myself for life if I took anybody’s orders.
  14. hammock
    a hanging bed of canvas or rope netting
    She sat down in the hammock and said, ‘Come and sit down by me, son.’
  15. coax
    influence or persuade by gentle and persistent urging
    I got very angry for no reason at all and I said, ‘No, I not going to sit by you.’
    She laughed and coaxed.
  16. lure
    qualities that attract by promising some kind of reward
    So she remained the enemy. She was someone from whom I was going to escape as soon as I grew big enough. That was, in fact, the main lure of adulthood.
  17. filth
    any substance considered disgustingly foul or unpleasant
    I hated the latrines, and I used to wonder about the sort of men who came with their lorries at night and carted away the filth; and there was always the horrible fear of falling into a pit.
  18. decent
    sufficient for the purpose
    One of the first men to have decent lavatories built was Hat, and we made a great thing of knocking down his old latrine.
  19. lavatory
    a room or building equipped with one or more toilets
    One of the first men to have decent lavatories built was Hat, and we made a great thing of knocking down his old latrine.
  20. distinct
    clearly or sharply defined to the mind
    I tried again, but all I heard, more distinctly now, was the constant chattering.
Created on Thu Mar 08 10:13:59 EST 2018 (updated Tue Mar 27 14:15:20 EDT 2018)

Sign up now (it’s free!)

Whether you’re a teacher or a learner, Vocabulary.com can put you or your class on the path to systematic vocabulary improvement.