Krik? Krak!: New York Day Women

by Edwidge Danticat
In this short story collection, award-winning writer Edwidge Danticat explores everyday life in Haiti.

Here are links to our lists for the stories in the collection: Children of the Sea, Nineteen Thirty-Seven, A Wall of Fire Rising, Night Women, Between the Pool and the Gardenias, The Missing Peace, Seeing Things Simply, New York Day Women, Caroline's Wedding, Epilogue: Women Like Us, In the Old Days
12 words 91 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. gait
    a person's manner of walking
    She is strolling with a happy gait, her body thrust toward the don’t walk sign and the yellow taxicabs that make forty-five-degree turns on the corner of Madison and Fifty-seventh Street.
  2. gawk
    look with amazement
    I have never seen her in this kind of neighborhood, peering into Chanel and Tiffany’s and gawking at the jewels glowing in the Bulgari windows.
  3. militant
    showing a fighting disposition
    She is afraid to take the subway, where you may meet those young black militant street preachers who curse black women for straightening their hair.
  4. dispute
    a disagreement or argument about something important
    My mother waits patiently for this dispute to be settled before crossing the street.
  5. mortgage
    a conveyance of property as security for repaying a loan
    We would pay the mortgage, and your father could stop driving that taxicab all over Brooklyn.
  6. mesmerized
    having your attention fixated as though witchcraft
    I follow my mother, mesmerized by the many possibilities of her journey.
  7. faux
    not genuine or real
    I trail the red orchids in her dress and the heavy faux leather bag on her shoulders.
  8. vendor
    someone who exchanges goods or services for money
    The vendor hands her a can of soda that she slips into her bag.
  9. contemplate
    reflect deeply on a subject
    I can tell that she is looking at an African print dress, contemplating my size.
  10. bolt
    leave suddenly and as if in a hurry
    The woman kisses the child good-bye and surrenders him to my mother; then she bolts off, running on the cemented stretches in the park.
  11. conspiracy
    a plot to carry out some harmful or illegal act
    This seems to be a conspiracy just between the two of them.
  12. thimble
    a small metal cap to protect the finger while sewing
    My mother, who stuffs thimbles in her mouth and then blows up her cheeks like Dizzy Gillespie while sewing yet another Raggedy Ann doll that she names Suzette after me.
Created on Mon Sep 10 16:45:37 EDT 2018 (updated Tue Sep 11 14:50:25 EDT 2018)

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