Messenger: Chapters 18-21

by Lois Lowry
In the third book of The Giver Quartet, award-winning author Lois Lowry tells the story of Matty, who risks his life to save his village. Along the way, Matty receives guidance from Leader (Jonas from The Giver) and reunites with Kira (from Gathering Blue).

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1-4, Chapters 5-8, Chapters 9-12, Chapters 13-17, Chapters 18-21

Explore other lists of The Giver Quartet here.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. optimism
    the hopeful feeling that all is going to turn out well
    The blind man was encouraged out of his despair by the optimism in Leader’s voice.
  2. snarl
    something jumbled or confused
    He had felt the tiny, even stitches often before, because he went to it and touched it when he was missing her. Now, on this shattered morning, he felt nothing but knots and snarls under his fingertips.
  3. struggle
    make a strenuous or labored effort
    Matty woke at dawn to find himself still curled next to Kira in the place where they had collapsed together after struggling as far as they could into the evening.
  4. hoarse
    deep and harsh sounding as if from shouting or illness
    His voice was hoarse from thirst, but she heard him and stirred.
  5. tendon
    a band of tissue connecting a muscle to its bony attachment
    The wounds were deep, and he could see exposed muscles and tendons glisten yellow and pink in a devastating kind of beauty where the ragged flesh gaped open.
  6. fabric
    artifact made by weaving or felting or knitting fibers
    “Kira! Put the needle into the fabric. And try to meet him. Try, Kira!”
  7. grasp
    hold firmly
    Without flinching, he brushed aside the grasping branches and ignored the thorns that scraped his arms and face.
  8. encounter
    come upon, as if by accident
    He encountered a place where the path seemed simply to end.
  9. resume
    take up or begin anew
    To his surprise, Leader followed the frog, pushing his way through thick bushes, and found that it had led him to the place where the path resumed.
  10. assault
    a threatened or attempted physical attack
    Now he saw that it was not random thorny branches and his own clumsiness in walking into them, but rather an assault from Forest itself.
  11. mercilessly
    without pity
    Suddenly the air surrounding him was abuzz with stinging insects. They flew at his face and bit mercilessly.
  12. besiege
    surround so as to force to give up
    He remembered, from his reading, descriptions of besieged medieval castles, and armies of men with bows sending so many arrows that the sky seemed thick with them.
  13. pierce
    penetrate or cut through with a sharp instrument
    He felt pierced in a thousand places, and he cried out.
  14. harbor
    secretly shelter, as a fugitive or criminal
    He rushed forward, thinking to move away from this swampy area that harbored and bred such creatures.
  15. disfigure
    mar or spoil the appearance of
    His face was disfigured now, swollen from bites that oozed a dark fluid.
  16. limp
    lacking in strength, firmness, or resilience
    So he lay back down, groaning from the effort, and in doing so felt the limp body of the puppy shift inside his shirt.
  17. blighted
    affected by something that prevents growth or prosperity
    His eyes were open but he was no longer seeing the vermin-ridden trees around him, their blighted leaves, or the foul dark mud under his feet.
  18. consciousness
    an alert cognitive state in which you are aware of yourself
    In the place called Beyond, Leader’s consciousness met Kira’s, and they curled around each other like wisps of smoke, in greeting.
  19. despair
    a state in which all hope is lost or absent
    Matty fell back in despair. He had followed Leader’s instructions. He had not spent the gift. He had not made Ramon well, had not fixed Kira’s crooked leg, or even tried to save his little dog. But it was too late now.
  20. ravaged
    having been robbed and destroyed by force and violence
    He could no longer bend his ravaged arms.
  21. sensation
    an awareness of some type of stimulation
    It began with the tiniest sensation.
  22. whorl
    a round shape formed by a series of concentric circles
    He felt it in the tips of his fingers, in the whorls and crevices of his outer skin.
  23. sinuous
    curved or curving in and out
    Inside him the thick dark liquid slid sinuously through his veins.
  24. labyrinth
    a complex system of interconnecting cavities
    It entered his heart and throbbed there, moving with purpose through the labyrinth of muscle, collecting energy that came faintly to it from his collapsing lungs.
  25. artery
    a blood vessel that carries blood from the heart to the body
    He could feel it surge into his arteries.
  26. molecule
    the simplest structural unit of an element or compound
    Within the blood itself he could perceive its separate cells, and see their colors in his consciousness, and the prisms of their molecules, and all of it was awake now, gathering power.
  27. fiber
    any of several elongated, threadlike cells
    The fibers of his muscles tightened.
  28. labor
    strive and make an effort to reach a goal
    He floated above, weightless, watching his human self labor and writhe.
  29. dappled
    having spots or patches of color
    He could see the path clearly now, for the bushes had drawn back, their leaves bright with new green growth and dappled with buds.
  30. canopy
    a covering (usually of cloth) that shelters an area
    Rounded stones bordered the path, and sunlight filtered down through the canopy of trees.
  31. disguise
    make unrecognizable
    It was a tangled knot of fears and deceits and dark struggles for power that had disguised itself and almost destroyed everything.
  32. radiant
    emanating or as if emanating light
    Now it was unfolding, like a flower coming into bloom, radiant with possibility.
  33. fierce
    marked by extreme and violent energy
    “He called himself the Fiercest of the Fierce.”
  34. messenger
    a person who carries a communication to a recipient
    “He wanted to be Messenger,” Kira confided.
    Leader shook his head. “No. There have been other messengers, and there will be more to come.”
  35. keen
    express grief verbally
    In the distance, the sound of keening began.
Created on Tue Jun 20 14:07:07 EDT 2017 (updated Tue May 31 12:46:52 EDT 2022)

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