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Selected Short Stories of Flannery O'Connor: "The Life You Save May Be Your Own"

A strange man intrudes on the life of an old woman and her daughter in Flannery O'Connor's "The Life You Save May Be Your Own."
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Full list of words from this list:

  1. desolate
    reduce in population
    Although the old woman lived in this desolate spot with only her daughter and she had never seen Mr. Shiftlet before, she could tell, even from a distance, that he was a tramp and no one to be afraid of.
  2. gaunt
    very thin, especially from disease or hunger or cold
    His left coat sleeve was folded up to show there was only half an arm in it and his gaunt figure listed slightly to the side as if the breeze were pushing him.
  3. amble
    a leisurely walk, usually in some public place
    He came on, at an amble, up her road, his face turned toward the sun which appeared to be balancing itself on the peak of a small mountain.
  4. afflicted
    mentally or physically unfit
    Mr. Shiftlet stopped just inside the yard and set his box on the ground and tipped his hat at her as if she were not in the least afflicted; then he turned toward the old woman and swung the hat all the way off.
  5. composed
    serenely self-possessed and free from agitation
    He seemed to be a young man but he had a look of composed dissatisfaction as if he understood life thoroughly.
  6. nasal
    sounding as if the nose were pinched
    "Lady," he said in a firm nasal voice, "I'd give a fortune to live where I could see me a sun do that every evening."
  7. irk
    irritate or vex
    "I don't know nothing about you," the old woman muttered, irked.
  8. ominous
    threatening or foreshadowing evil or tragic developments
    Maybe the best I can tell you is, I'm a man; but listen lady," he said and paused and made his tone more ominous still, "what is a man?"
  9. undertaking
    the trade of a funeral director
    He had been a gospel singer, a foreman on the railroad, an assistant in an undertaking parlor, and he had come over the radio for three months with Uncle Roy and his Red Creek Wranglers.
  10. whimper
    cry weakly or softly
    The daughter was leaning very far down, hanging her head almost between her knees, watching him through a triangular door she had made in her overturned hair; and she suddenly fell in a heap on the floor and began to whimper.
  11. sullen
    showing a brooding ill humor
    I'm a man," he said with a sullen dignity, "even if I ain't a whole one.
  12. immensity
    unusual largeness in size or extent or number
    I got," he said, tapping his knuckles on the floor to emphasize the immensity of what he was going to say, "a moral intelligence!" and his face pierced out of the darkness into a shaft of doorlight and he stared at her as if he were astonished himself at this impossible truth.
  13. yonder
    in an indicated distant place
    "I told you you could hang around and work for food," she said, "if you don't mind sleeping in that car yonder."
  14. apparent
    clearly revealed to the mind or the senses or judgment
    He had not been around a week before the change he had made in the place was apparent.
  15. ravenous
    extremely hungry
    She was ravenous for a son‑in‑law.
  16. stately
    impressive in appearance
    With a volley of blasts it emerged from the shed, moving in a fierce and stately way.
  17. erect
    upright in position or posture
    Mr. Shiftlet was in the driver's seat, sitting very erect.
  18. modesty
    formality and propriety of manner
    He had an expression of serious modesty on his face as if he had just raised the dead.
  19. weary
    physically and mentally fatigued
    In the darkness, Mr. Shiftlet's smile stretched like a weary snake waking up by a fire.
  20. crabbed
    annoyed and irritable
    "I'll give you fifteen dollars for a week‑end trip," the old woman said in a crabbed voice.
  21. morose
    showing a brooding ill humor
    He looked morose and bitter as if he had been insulted while someone held him.
  22. placid
    not easily irritated
    Every now and then her placid expression was changed by a sly isolated little thought like a shoot of green in the desert.
  23. seep
    pass gradually or leak or as if through small openings
    Tears began to seep sideways out of her eyes and run along the dirty creases in her face.
  24. swerve
    the act of turning aside suddenly
    Although the car would go only thirty miles an hour, Mr. Shiftlet imagined a terrific climb and dip and swerve that went entirely to his head so that he forgot his morning bitterness.
  25. sultry
    characterized by oppressive heat and humidity
    The late afternoon had grown hot and sultry and the country had flattened out.
  26. oppressed
    burdened psychologically or mentally
    Mr. Shiftlet felt oppressed.
  27. reckon
    expect, believe, or suppose
    "Son," he said after a minute, "I got the best old mother in the world so I reckon you only got the second best."
  28. rue
    feel sorry for; be contrite about
    Son," he said, "I never rued a day in my life like the one I rued when I left that old mother of mine."
  29. engulf
    flow over or cover completely
    Mr. Shiftlet felt that the rottenness of the world was about to engulf him.
  30. guffaw
    a burst of loud and hearty laughter
    After a few minutes there was a guffawing peal of thunder from behind and fantastic raindrops, like tin‑can tops, crashed over the rear of Mr. Shiftlet's car.
Created on Mon Apr 08 12:23:42 EDT 2013 (updated Tue Apr 09 16:38:11 EDT 2019)

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