The Fire Next Time: List 2

by James Baldwin
In this classic essay, James Baldwin reflects on his youthful experiences and probes America's history of racial injustice.

This list covers pages 31–45 of the 1993 Vintage edition.

Here are links to our lists for the book: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4
15 words 211 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. relish
    derive or receive pleasure from
    I relished the attention and the relative immunity from punishment that my new status gave me, and I relished, above all, the sudden right to privacy.
  2. heyday
    the period of greatest prosperity or productivity
    It had to be recognized, after all, that I was still a schoolboy, with my schoolwork to do, and I was also expected to prepare at least one sermon a week. During what we may call my heyday, I preached much more often than that.
  3. visceral
    coming from deep inward feelings rather than from reasoning
    It took a long time for me to disengage myself from this excitement, and on the blindest, most visceral level, I never really have, and never will.
  4. sustenance
    a source of food or nourishment
    It was, for a long time, in spite of—or, not inconceivably, because of—the shabbiness of my motives, my only sustenance, my meat and drink.
  5. imperceptibly
    in a manner that is difficult to discern
    It happened, as things do, imperceptibly, in many ways at once.
  6. predominantly
    much greater in number or influence
    By this time, I was in a high school that was predominantly Jewish.
  7. lucrative
    producing a sizeable profit
    They were waiting for me to come to my senses and realize that I was in a very lucrative business.
  8. zest
    vigorous and enthusiastic enjoyment
    In spite of everything, there was in the life I fled a zest and a joy and a capacity for facing and surviving disaster that are very moving and very rare.
  9. exuberance
    joyful enthusiasm
    It is the singer’s incredibly moving exuberance that makes one realize how leaden the time must have been while she was gone.
  10. leaden
    lacking lightness or liveliness
    It is the singer’s incredibly moving exuberance that makes one realize how leaden the time must have been while she was gone.
  11. fanciful
    indulging in or influenced by the imagination
    I am referring to something much simpler and much less fanciful.
  12. blasphemous
    grossly irreverent toward what is held to be sacred
    It will be a great day for America, incidentally, when we begin to eat bread again, instead of the blasphemous and tasteless foam rubber that we have substituted for it.
  13. frivolous
    not serious in content, attitude, or behavior
    And I am not being frivolous now, either. Something very sinister happens to the people of a country when they begin to distrust their own reactions as deeply as they do here, and become as joyless as they have become.
  14. touchstone
    a basis for comparison
    The person who distrusts himself has no touchstone for reality—for this touchstone can be only oneself.
  15. labyrinth
    complex system of paths in which it is easy to get lost
    Such a person interposes between himself and reality nothing less than a labyrinth of attitudes.
Created on Fri Oct 25 09:34:02 EDT 2019 (updated Fri Aug 08 13:53:30 EDT 2025)

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