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assert
insist on having one's opinions and rights recognized
When once or twice Sethe tried to
assert herself—be the unquestioned mother whose word was law and who knew what was best—Beloved slammed things, wiped the table clean of plates, threw salt on the floor, broke a windowpane.
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listless
lacking zest or vivacity
Listless and sleepy with hunger Denver saw the flesh between her mother’s forefinger and thumb fade.
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tentative
hesitant or lacking confidence; unsettled in mind or opinion
It was April and everything alive was
tentative.
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hearten
give encouragement to
Braced and
heartened by that easy encounter, she picked up speed and began to look deliberately at the neighborhood surrounding her.
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dissolve
cause to fade away
The pleasure she felt at having found the house
dissolved, suddenly, in doubt.
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rancor
a feeling of deep and bitter anger and ill-will
With that education pat and firmly set, she dispensed with
rancor, was indiscriminately polite, saving her real affection for the unpicked children of Cincinnati, one of whom sat before her in a dress so loud it embarrassed the needlepoint chair seat.
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indiscriminate
not marked by fine distinctions
With that education pat and firmly set, she dispensed with rancor, was
indiscriminately polite, saving her real affection for the unpicked children of Cincinnati, one of whom sat before her in a dress so loud it embarrassed the needlepoint chair seat.
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inaugurate
commence officially
She did not know it then, but it was the word “baby,” said softly and with such kindness, that
inaugurated her life in the world as a woman.
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disdain
lack of respect accompanied by a feeling of intense dislike
Maybe they were sorry for the years of their own
disdain.
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arrogant
having or showing feelings of unwarranted importance
In any case, the personal pride, the
arrogant claim staked out at 124 seemed to them to have run its course.
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yield
give over
And the older woman
yielded it up without a murmur.
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persuade
cause somebody to adopt a certain position or belief
This and much more Denver heard her say from her corner chair, trying to
persuade Beloved, the one and only person she felt she had to convince, that what she had done was right because it came from true love.
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calamity
an event resulting in great loss and misfortune
She would hire herself out somewhere, and although she was afraid to leave Sethe and Beloved alone all day not knowing what
calamity either one of them would create, she came to realize that her presence in that house had no influence on what either woman did.
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provoke
annoy continually or chronically
Growled when they chose; sulked, explained, demanded, strutted, cowered, cried and
provoked each other to the edge of violence, then over.
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atrocity
an act of shocking cruelty
It was “the lowest yet” who gave her a disgust for sex and against whom she measured all
atrocities.
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countenance
consent to, give permission
Sethe’s crime was staggering and her pride outstripped even that; but she could not
countenance the possibility of sin moving on in the house, unleashed and sassy.
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sufficient
of a quantity that can fulfill a need or requirement
“
Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof,” and nobody needed more; nobody needed a grownup evil sitting at the table with a grudge.
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anxious
causing or fraught with or showing anxiety
She was a little
anxious about whether she would prove satisfactory to the Bodwins, and uneasy too because she woke up crying from a dream about a running pair of shoes.
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envy
a desire to have something that is possessed by another
But there they were, young and happy, playing in Baby Suggs’ yard, not feeling the
envy that surfaced the next day.
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indulgence
foolish or senseless behavior
Privacy was an adult
indulgence, but when he got to be one, he seemed not to need it.
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antagonism
an actively expressed feeling of dislike and hostility
It made him the most visible and memorable person at every gathering, and cartoonists had fastened onto the theatricality of his white hair and big black mustache whenever they depicted local political
antagonism.
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abolish
do away with
The Society managed to turn infanticide and the cry of savagery around, and build a further case for
abolishing slavery.
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rapt
feeling great delight
They saw Denver sitting on the steps and beyond her, where the yard met the road, they saw the
rapt faces of thirty neighborhood women.
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confiscate
take temporary possession of a security by legal authority
Keane and his friend, a Sergeant Rossiter,
confiscated a skiff and the three of them floated in Mobile Bay.
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disembark
exit from a ship, vehicle, or aircraft
Keane and Rossiter
disembarked at Memphis to look for their commanders.