Unit 2: Vocabulary from Readings 1

This list covers "Orpheus Sings: Pygmalion and the Statue" and "Cinderella, the Legend."
13 words 3 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. mortal
    subject to death
    But, with wonderful skill, he carved a figure, brilliantly, out of snow-white ivory, no mortal woman, and fell in love with his own creation.
  2. iconic
    relating to a symbolic figure
    The iconic focus of the tale on the lost slipper and Cinderella’s “perfect fit” suggest that the story may have originated in the Orient where the erotic significance of tiny feet has been a popular myth since ancient times.
  3. mercantile
    relating to the economic system of commercialism
    The Horatio Alger quality of the story helps to explain its special popularity in mercantile and capitalistic societies.
  4. seminal
    influential and providing a basis for later development
    Most Anglo-American novels, early and late, are written in the shadow of Pamela and the Cinderella myth. Even Franklin's Autobiography, the seminal work in the success genre, owes much to the myth.
  5. abasement
    a low or downcast state
    The personality of the heroine is one that, above all, accepts abasement as a prelude to and precondition of affiliation.
  6. affiliation
    a social or business relationship
    The personality of the heroine is one that, above all, accepts abasement as a prelude to and precondition of affiliation.
  7. menial
    relating to unskilled work, especially domestic work
    That abasement is characteristically expressed by Cinderella’s servitude to menial tasks, work that diminishes her.
  8. paradigm
    a standard or typical example
    This willing acceptance of a condition of worthlessness and her expectation of rescue (as reward for her virtuous suffering) is a recognizable paradigm of traditional feminine socialization.
  9. sojourn
    a temporary stay
    Her sojourn among the ashes is a period of grieving, a transition to a new self.
  10. docile
    willing to be taught or led or supervised or directed
    The traditional connotation would, of course, associate it with the paternal mandate of obedience, and a threat: if the heroine does not return to domesticity and docility at regular intervals she may lose her “virtue” and no longer merit her expected one.
  11. hubris
    overbearing pride or presumption
    Like the old conduct manuals for ladies, the moral of the tale warns against feminine excursions as well as ambition. Too much time spent “abroad” may result in indiscreet sex or unseemly hubris, or both.
  12. virulence
    extreme harmfulness
    Historically, the virulence of its significance is born out in the twisted horrors of Chinese foot binding practices.
  13. conformity
    compliance with accepted standards, rules, or norms
    On another level, the slipper is a symbol of power—with all of its accompanying restrictions and demands for conformity.
Created on Thu Jan 28 09:01:14 EST 2021 (updated Thu Jan 28 16:50:20 EST 2021)

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