Anger Is a Gift: Chapters 8–14

by Mark Oshiro
After his father is killed, Moss struggles with anxiety and panic attacks. Increasingly frustrated by violence and injustice at his underfunded Oakland high school, he tries to harness his anger to bring about meaningful change in his community.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–7, Chapters 8–14, Chapters 15–21, Chapters 22–28, Chapters 29–39
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. immensity
    unusual largeness in size or extent or number
    “It’s true! I mean, of course I wish your papa was here. I’d give almost anything to have him back. But I wouldn’t trade you for him.”
    The immensity of that swallowed him, and he leaned back into his mother as she rubbed his back, up and down.
  2. cliche
    a trite or obvious remark
    Moss wished that conversation came easy to him, but as he read the text over and over again, every response he came up with sounded like a cliché.
  3. altercation
    a noisy, angry argument or fight between people
    “I am proud of the quick response of some of our faculty members yesterday during the unfortunate altercation on campus.”
  4. bristle
    react in an offended or angry manner
    This time, it was Mrs. Torrance who groaned. The class bristled in response.
  5. jeer
    a mocking or contemptuous remark
    He paused again, as if he were speaking to everyone in the school’s auditorium and leaving time for the groans and jeers.
  6. precariously
    in a manner affording no ease or reassurance
    Books balanced precariously on top of shelves, and there was a tall stack with bright, frayed covers next to her desk.
  7. naive
    marked by or showing unaffected simplicity
    It wasn’t that he was surprised that things at his school were getting worse. He wasn’t naive. Things just felt so obvious now, as if he couldn’t push it into the background and ignore it.
  8. gingerly
    in a manner marked by extreme care or delicacy
    “Maybe there just haven’t been a lot of people who have applied to those schools that come from West Oakland,” she said gingerly.
  9. furrow
    make or become wrinkled or creased
    He furrowed his brows at her.
  10. petty
    preoccupied with unimportant matters in a spiteful way
    A pettiness came over him. He suddenly didn’t want to talk to her about it.
  11. cynicism
    a pessimistic feeling of distrust
    Moss wanted to trust his instincts, but that was the problem with his cynicism. His instincts always veered toward disaster.
  12. dilapidated
    in a state of decay, ruin, or deterioration
    There was a dilapidated swing set at one end of the yard, towels and jeans hanging from it.
  13. bashful
    self-consciously timid
    A bashfulness came over Javier, and Moss appreciated that he wasn’t the only vulnerable one in the room.
  14. quell
    overcome or allay
    He closed his eyes, not to get lost in thought, but to quell the rising anger within him.
  15. foyer
    a large entrance or reception room or area
    He looked to Eugenia, who came into the foyer carrying two large plastic bags.
  16. condescension
    showing arrogance by patronizing those considered inferior
    “How much is a permit?” Esperanza quizzed.
    “More than you can afford,” the woman shot back, giving them a smile that dripped with condescension.
  17. defer
    yield to another's wish or opinion
    The group seemed to naturally defer to her as the leader.
  18. validation
    finding or testing the truth of something
    “I bet it’s against our rights or something,” Rawiya suggested, then looked around the group for validation. "Right?"
  19. hijab
    a headscarf worn by Muslim women
    “At the end of our sophomore year, during a school assembly, he told me to take my hijab off. During the Pledge of Allegiance.”
  20. knack
    a special way of doing something
    “Well, you know your mama’s got a knack for causin’ trouble. I just figured she was already camped outside the principal’s office, threatening to rain down hell on him.”
  21. vindication
    the justification for some act or belief
    “I’m kinda expecting a disaster tomorrow, and it will be sweet, sweet vindication.”
  22. cursory
    hasty and without attention to detail; not thorough
    Nearly a half hour later, Martin brushed off the last few stray hairs, pulled off the cape, and handed Moss a mirror, though Moss trusted Martin so much that he rarely gave his cuts more than a cursory examination.
  23. compartmentalize
    keep separate; separate into isolated categories
    He’d learned to talk to his brain as if it were a person, and there were times when he couldn’t accept that it was a part of his body. If he thought of it as an invader, he could conceive of it. Compartmentalize it. Fight it.
  24. quaint
    attractively old-fashioned
    The tall businesses of downtown Oakland morphed first into blocks of condos and apartment buildings, then into the quaint, small-town feel of Piedmont.
  25. preternatural
    surpassing the ordinary or normal
    They’d been attached at the hip by the end of seventh grade, partially because Esperanza was preternaturally talented at dealing with Moss whenever a panic attack hit him, whenever he was on the brink of a breakdown.
  26. futile
    producing no result or effect
    Every so often, someone in the rear of the group would shout toward the front, but it was a futile act. You couldn’t make out a single voice in that hive.
  27. implementation
    the act of accomplishing some aim or executing some order
    He figured that the man responsible for signing the school up for this would want to be there on the first day of implementation, but that didn’t seem to be the case.
  28. tentative
    hesitant or lacking confidence; unsettled in mind or opinion
    “You sure your leg feels okay?” Kaisha asked, her face full of concern.
    Reg took a few tentative steps forward.
  29. exuberant
    joyously unrestrained
    More students arrived to school on foot, and Moss noticed a group of them collecting across the street, their voices loud and exuberant, but not more so than the pulsing, formless entity outside the school.
  30. entity
    that which is perceived to have its own distinct existence
    More students arrived to school on foot, and Moss noticed a group of them collecting across the street, their voices loud and exuberant, but not more so than the pulsing, formless entity outside the school.
  31. straggler
    someone who strays or falls behind
    It was at least twenty minutes before the people a few feet in front of them appeared to have moved forward at all. By the time Reg felt safe enough to stand and join the remaining stragglers, Njemile had managed to finish a piece of homework left from the night before, and Rawiya had gotten forty pages ahead in one of her books for Senior Lit.
  32. dire
    fraught with extreme danger; nearly hopeless
    If this weren’t such a dire scenario, Moss would have broken out into laughter.
  33. demeanor
    the way a person behaves toward other people
    The cop raised a hand to his head, running it through his hair. The tough demeanor evaporated in an instant.
  34. guttural
    relating to or articulated in the throat
    His eyes pleaded with Moss, told him not to let go, and then the cop pulled again with a guttural yell, and Reg followed, slamming into the older man, who was nearly twice Reg’s size, so he did not so much as stumble.
  35. staccato
    marked by or composed of disconnected parts or sounds
    Reg’s breathing was ragged, staccato.
  36. bleat
    the sound of sheep or goats (or any sound resembling this)
    Reg pushed himself away from the metal detector with a scream. His voice was a hellish bleat as he dropped on the ground.
  37. voracity
    extreme gluttony
    He felt the tingling in his hands, the lightness in his head, the heaviness of his heart, and it consumed him, filled him to the brim with a bitterness and voracity that burned his throat.
  38. scoff
    laugh at with contempt and derision
    Esperanza scoffed. “You’re not serious, are you?”
  39. monstrosity
    something hideous or frightful
    “We need to take care of this now. I worry enough as it is whenever Moss leaves this house. Who knows what else those things at the school are capable of? Are the police trained well enough to use them? Based on what I heard from y’all, it doesn’t even sound like anyone knew how to operate those monstrosities.”
  40. clandestine
    conducted with or marked by hidden aims or methods
    “You gotta get this message out as clandestinely as possible,” she said, “without letting the administration know what you’re doing. How will y’all communicate with folks online?”
Created on Wed Jun 12 09:33:38 EDT 2019 (updated Fri Jun 14 11:39:46 EDT 2019)

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