The Madman of Piney Woods: Chapters 33–50

by Christopher Paul Curtis
Thirteen-year-olds Benjamin (the son of runaway slave) and Alvin (the grandson of Irish immigrants) live in different Canadian towns in 1901, but they meet in the woods and end up working together to hunt down the Madman in this companion novel to Elijah of Buxton.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–6, Chapters 7–16, Chapters 17–21, Chapters 22–32, Chapters 33–50
40 words 14 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. stifle
    smother or suppress
    As I felt his icy fingers wrap around my mouth to stifle any of my dying wails, I had second thoughts.
  2. kismet
    fate or fortune
    "No, Benji, this is kismet! I was looking for you.”
  3. exasperated
    greatly annoyed; out of patience
    Benji stared at me, and I can find no fault in the exasperated expression that worried his face.
  4. bewilderment
    confusion resulting from failure to understand
    Benji’s expression changed from bewilderment to horror.
  5. slew
    a large number or amount or extent
    There was a slew of raccoon tracks bunched together in the damp mud, like they’d been tussling over something.
  6. deserts
    an outcome (good or bad) that is well merited
    But he’d missed the signs. It would be just deserts if I left him.
  7. gnarled
    old and twisted and covered in lines
    I paused when I saw what looked like a strange-shaped, gnarled black root.
  8. reel
    be dizzy, disoriented, or bewildered
    My mind reeled when I realized it wasn’t a root at all. It was a man’s foot tangled in the vines, his toes tightly clenched, folded down upon the sole of his foot.
  9. loathsome
    physically offensive or sickening
    But the tone in his voice left no doubt that he had discovered something loathsome.
  10. spur
    incite or stimulate
    The thought of Red losing hope and leaving the Madman lying alone in the woods spurred me to run harder.
  11. overwhelm
    overcome, as with emotions or perceptual stimuli
    Even as well as I know the forest, being alone, lost in the woods on a pitch-black night would be enough to make me lose my mind. Plus, Red might be sitting with someone who was no longer alive. It would have overwhelmed even a woodsman like me.
  12. fringe
    the outside boundary or surface of something
    I was on the far north fringe of the Russells’ land, only a fifteen-minute hard run from the mayor’s fields!
  13. salve
    anything that remedies, heals, or soothes
    And what a salve for sore eyes!
  14. lope
    run easily
    I waited for my wind to come back to me, struggled to my feet, and started loping toward them.
  15. divine
    of such excellence as to suggest inspiration by the gods
    Stubby had brought a ladle of water, and its coolness was divine.
  16. levity
    a manner lacking seriousness
    I’m certain one of the first things Father would have done is to try to soothe my fears with humour. But I’m afraid I don’t know how he’d find humour or levity in this predicament.
  17. fervently
    with strong emotion or zeal
    I prayed more fervently than ever to be delivered from this tomb!
  18. wager
    stake on the outcome of an issue
    I imagined Father would tell her something comforting, something along the lines of, “Well, I’ll wager when the lad gets home we’ll hear about some grand experiment Mr. Victor Greene had him involved in where they lost track of time.”
  19. rend
    tear or be torn violently
    My misery began to slowly rend my heart in two.
  20. melancholy
    a constitutional tendency to be gloomy and depressed
    Fortunately, before I sank into complete melancholy, my training as a scientist took over.
  21. tousle
    disarrange or rumple; dishevel
    She simply would have tousled my hair and said, “Alvin? First things first. Who’s in more need of comforting here, you or this poor soul you’re holding?”
  22. falsetto
    a male singing voice with artificially high tones
    My falsetto was nowhere near as beautiful as Mother’s soprano, but I sang anyway.
  23. avail
    a means of serving
    But we’d made two passes in the area where I was certain they should be and called heartily to no avail.
  24. waylay
    wait in hiding to attack
    Thought for sure he got waylaid somewhere.
  25. speculate
    believe, especially on uncertain or tentative grounds
    Folks speculated he had to be dead, ’cause otherwise why didn’t he come home? How come he didn’t send word?
  26. peeve
    cause to be annoyed, irritated, or resentful
    Cooter refused to let ’em celebrate anything about him, got peeved if you called him a hero.
  27. foyer
    a large entrance or reception room or area
    A strong, steady HAR-HAR-HAR filled the living room and the foyer, as if someone in the house were sawing lumber.
  28. vigil
    a purposeful surveillance to guard or observe
    Mother and Father didn’t tell them, but the plan was that they’d wait there until the Madman got better.
    Mother and me had been keeping a vigil ever since.
  29. lucid
    capable of thinking in a clear and consistent manner
    The doctor said, “He’s quite lucid.”
  30. marrow
    network of connective tissue filling the cavities of bones
    There’s a tiredness I ain’t got no desire to get rid of. Seems like it seeped right on into my marrow.
  31. preamble
    a preliminary introduction, as to a statute or constitution
    With no preamble whatsoever, just as a forkful of scrambled eggs was about to disappear in my mouth, I dove into it.
  32. compassion
    a deep awareness of and sympathy for another's suffering
    Doesn’t it seem only logical that if a person has been through all of the grief she has, they’d have nothing but compassion for anyone else who’s been through the same?
  33. predicament
    an unpleasant or difficult situation
    Shouldn’t that make her realize firsthand what a horrible predicament other people are in?
  34. downtrodden
    abused or oppressed by people in power
    Who but an uncaring beast would heap more anguish onto someone else who’s also been downtrodden? Who but a monster would inflict the same unfair pain that they’d been exposed to upon another human being?
  35. spleen
    a feeling of resentful anger
    He was allowing me to vent my spleen, and I really wanted to.
  36. institutionalize
    cause to be admitted, as a person to a hospital
    She should be institutionalized immediately! There’s no need for me to visit which asylum she’ll go to.
  37. lather
    agitation resulting from active worry
    I’d worked myself up into such a lather, he had almost no choice but to say in a heavy Irish brogue, “Ah, Alvin, me lad—”
  38. deplorable
    bringing or deserving severe rebuke or censure
    If, however, you and I try to understand together what is behind your grandmother’s deplorable actions and deplorable condition, that we may be able to accomplish.
  39. resilient
    recovering readily from adversity, depression, or the like
    You, my beloved son, are the evidence that the human spirit is strong and resilient, that given a chance, without interference from so many of the indignities life pours upon us, our spirits want to soar.
  40. eschew
    avoid and stay away from deliberately
    Although he eschewed the name hero, we at the Chatham Freedman must respectfully disagree, he was a hero.
Created on Thu Sep 29 10:38:12 EDT 2022 (updated Fri Jun 30 13:35:44 EDT 2023)

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