A Likely Story: "The Scholarship Jacket" by Marta Salinas

This story explores what a scholarship jacket means to a Mexican girl in a small Texas town.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. valedictorian
    the student with the best grades
    The small Texas school that I attended carried out a tradition every year during the eighth grade graduation; a beautiful gold and green jacket, the school colors, was awarded to the class valedictorian, the student who had maintained the highest grades for eight years.
    The definition suggests that a valedictorian has high grades and makes a speech. But the Latin roots of the word focus on speech: "valere" means "be well, be strong" and "dicere" means "to say." The tradition of choosing a valedictorian is based on the assumption that the student with the highest grades would be the strongest speaker who would best know how to help the graduates say farewell to the years they have shared.
  2. agile
    moving quickly and lightly
    We couldn't participate in sports in school because there were registration fees, uniform costs, and trips out of town; so even though we were quite agile and athletic there would never be a sports school jacket for us.
  3. despair
    abandon hope; lose heart
    I despaired every time I looked in the mirror.
  4. eavesdrop
    listen without the speaker's knowledge
    I didn't mean to eavesdrop; I just hesitated, not knowing what to do.
  5. filter
    run or flow slowly, as in drops or in an unsteady stream
    The pounding in my ears drowned out the rest of the words, only a word here and there filtered through. “… Martha is Mexican… resign… won’t do it…”
  6. coincidence
    an accidental event that seems to have been arranged
    It seemed a cruel coincidence that I had overheard that conversation.
  7. dismay
    the feeling of despair in the face of obstacles
    I stared at him in shock and a small sound of dismay escaped my throat.
    Compare with "despair"--both can be used as nouns or verbs, and they can be synonyms. But "despair" is a stronger verb that connects to the loss of hope, while "dismay" connects to a loss of power (which can but does not always lead to despair). This difference in emotions can be seen in the example sentences. Here, Marta is dismayed by an obstacle that she tries to overcome. Earlier, she despairs over her appearance, which she doesn't think she can control.
  8. dignity
    the quality of being worthy of esteem or respect
    Standing with all the dignity I could muster, I said, "I’ll speak to my grandfather about it, sir, and let you know tomorrow.”
  9. represent
    express indirectly by an image, form, or model
    It represents eight years of hard work and expectation.
  10. significance
    a meaning that is not expressly stated but can be inferred
    Too late I realized the significance of my words.
  11. dedicated
    devoted to a cause or ideal or purpose
    He went back to hoeing the weeds that sprang up between the dedicated little bean plants.
    The adjective sounds like an odd choice to describe bean plants. But the dedicated growth of the bean plants, despite the weedy obstacles, could represent the academic achievements of Marta and her sister in a town that does not always value its Mexican population. It could also represent the hard work of the grandfather in raising his literal bean plants and the granddaughter who is a figurative "Beanpole" and "String Bean."
  12. consuming
    very intense
    It was a time consuming job; sometimes the small shoots were right next to each other.
  13. scholarship
    profound learned knowledge
    Then if you pay for it, Marta, it’s not a scholarship jacket, is it?
    The definition is for an abstract noun. A concrete scholarship is "financial aid provided to a student on the basis of merit." Both definitions describe the jacket. But here, Marta disagrees with Grandpa about how the two connect: Marta wants the jacket, even if she has to pay for it, because it represents her hard-earned knowledge, while Grandpa believes that if she pays for it, it cannot represent the learning she had earned.
  14. withdrawn
    tending to be reserved, quiet, or introspective
    It was a very sad and withdrawn girl who dragged into the principal’s office the next day.
  15. gaunt
    very thin, especially from disease or hunger or cold
    He looked bigger than usual when he stood up; he was a tall gaunt man with gray hair, and I watched the back of his head while I waited for him to speak.
  16. vile
    causing or able to cause nausea
    Something bitter and vile tasting was coming up in my mouth; I was afraid I was going to be sick.
  17. sympathy
    sharing the feelings of others, especially sorrow or anguish
    I didn’t need any sympathy speeches.
  18. exception
    an instance that does not conform to a rule
    “Okay, damn it. We’ll make an exception in your case. I’ll tell the Board, you’ll get your jacket.”
  19. adrenaline
    hormone secreted by the adrenal gland in response to stress
    I didn’t know about adrenaline in those days, but I knew something was pumping through me, making me feel as tall as the sky.
  20. innocent
    lacking in sophistication or worldliness
    His face looked as happy and innocent as a baby’s but I knew better.
    The adjective also means "not knowledgeable about something specified." The image of the baby fits the chosen definition, but this second definition fits the actual image of the happy teacher who is pretending not to know that he had played a role in making sure that Marta gets the scholarship jacket that she had earned.
Created on Wed Apr 15 13:25:49 EDT 2015 (updated Wed Aug 08 16:39:18 EDT 2018)

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