"The Grapes of Wrath," Vocabulary from Chapters 16-19

30 Words Activities Assignments

show: definitions & notes only words

weariness
temporary loss of strength and energy from hard work

Ma, beside him, had folded her hands in her lap, had retired into a resistance against weariness.
kin
related by blood

We got almost a kin bond.
reassure
give or restore confidence in

“Don’t you worry,” Tom reassured her. “We’re gonna find ya. California ain’t the whole world.”
lax
wanting in strength or firmness or resilience

The whole group watched the revolt. They watched his lax hands to see the fists form.

"Lax" also means "without rigor or strictness"--despite threats to whup Ma and the younger children, Pa is shown mostly as a loving husband and father who tries his best to provide for his family; his attitude toward discipline could be described as lax. Here in the example sentence, his hands, which are normally strong and firm from manual labor, are lax because he's helplessly surprised at Ma's sassy revolt.
astonishment
the feeling that accompanies something extremely surprising

Ma looked in astonishment at the bar of iron.

In addition to wielding a weapon, Ma scolds, "What we got lef’ in the worl’? Nothin’ but us. Nothin’ but the folks." This fierceness astonishes her (Latin root is "tonare" which means "to thunder"), yet vividly emphasizes the lengths a mother would go to in order to keep her family together and safe.
partial
showing favoritism

“Ma’s awful partial to you,” said Al.
querulous
habitually complaining

Pa observed querulously, “That Rosasharn is gettin’ awful scary an’ nimsy-mimsy.”
despair
the feeling that nothing will turn out well

And it might be that a sick child threw despair into the hearts of twenty families, of a hundred people; that a birth there in a tent kept a hundred people quiet and awestruck through the night and filled a hundred people with the birth-joy in the morning.
establish
set up or found

Every night a world created, complete with furniture—friends made and enemies established; a world complete with braggarts and with cowards, with quiet men, with humble men, with kindly men.
gradual
proceeding in small stages

At first the families were timid in the building and tumbling worlds, but gradually the technique of building worlds became their technique.
transcend
go beyond the scope or limits of

The families learned what rights must be observed—the right of privacy in the tent; the right to keep the past black hidden in the heart; the right to talk and to listen; the right to refuse help or to accept, to offer help or to decline it; the right of son to court and daughter to be courted; the right of the hungry to be fed; the rights of the pregnant and the sick to transcend all other rights.
monstrous
shockingly brutal or cruel

And the families learned, although no one told them, what rights are monstrous and must be destroyed: the right to intrude upon privacy, the right to be noisy while the camp slept, the right of seduction or rape, the right of adultery and theft and murder.
ostracism
the act of excluding someone from society by general consent

And with the laws, the punishments—and there were only two—a quick and murderous fight or ostracism; and ostracism was the worst.
integrate
make into a whole or make part of a whole

In the long hot light, they were silent in the cars moving slowly westward; but at night they integrated with any group they found.
yearning
prolonged unfulfilled desire or need

Then water in the evening was the yearning, and food over the fire.
courtesy
a polite, respectful, or considerate act

The car pulled off the road and stopped, and because others were there first, certain courtesies were necessary.
elaborate
developed or executed with care and in minute detail

And they made elaborate acquaintanceship gestures.
prospect
the possibility of future success

And young girls found each other and boasted shyly of their popularity and their prospects.

"Prospect" also means "someone who is considered for something"--the "someone" here is a young man and the "something" is marriage; this is supported by the linking of the words "prospects" and "popularity" and the setting of the novel in the 1930s, when the possibilities for women succeeding outside the home were slim.
gracious
characterized by charm and good taste

And each wished he could pick a guitar, because it is a gracious thing.
vehemence
intensity or forcefulness of expression

Ruthie said, with soft vehemence, “California. This here’s California an’ we’re right in it!”
abruptly
quickly and without warning

“It ain’t no use,” Noah said. “I’m sad, but I can’t he’p it. I got to go.” He turned abruptly and walked downstream along the shore.

"Abruptly" comes from the Latin "rumpere" which means "to break"--although the family was already falling apart with the death of Grampa, Noah's abrupt desertion creates a deliberate rupture in the family. But traveling with the other migrants on the same road introduces the Joads to a new vision of family.
imperious
having or showing arrogant superiority

Granma called imperiously, “Will! Will! You come here, Will.”
exhortation
a communication intended to urge or persuade to take action

From some little distance there came the sound of the beginning meeting, a sing-song chant of exhortation.
decorous
characterized by propriety and dignity and good taste

Tom looked down the line of tents and he saw Ruthie and Winfield standing in front of a tent in decorous conversation with someone inside.
beckon
summon with a wave, nod, or some other gesture

Ma beckoned Pa into the cover of the tarpaulin and spoke softly to him.
flighty
unpredictably excitable (especially of horses)

Tom said, “I don’ know what’s got into Ma. She’s flighty as a dog with a flea in his ear.

"Flighty" also means "guided by whim and fancy"--this definition is the opposite of Ma's practical nature: her flightiness here is mostly nervous anxiety that the inspection officers might stop them on account of Granma; it could also be a pun on her focus on the family's flight across the desert to California, where they can start a new life.
nebulous
lacking definition or definite content

And whereas the wants of the Californians were nebulous and undefined, the wants of the Okies were beside the roads, lying there to be seen and coveted: the good fields with water to be dug for, the good green fields, earth to crumble experimentally in the hand, grass to smell, oaten stalks to chew until the sharp sweetness was in the throat.
goad
stab or urge on as if with a pointed stick

And such a man drove along the roads and knew temptation at every field, and knew the lust to take these fields and make them grow strength for his children and a little comfort for his wife. The temptation was before him always. The fields goaded him, and the company ditches with good water flowing were a goad to him.
wretched
characterized by physical misery

How can you frighten a man whose hunger is not only in his own cramped stomach but in the wretched bellies of his children?
repression
control by holding down

And the little screaming fact that sounds through all history: repression works only to strengthen and knit the repressed.

"The Grapes of Wrath," Vocabulary from Chapters 16-19

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"The Grapes of Wrath," Vocabulary from Chapters 16-19

Activities for this list:

Practice

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Vocabulary Jam

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