The Joy Luck Club Vocab

malignant

(adj.) deadly, extremely harmful, evil; spiteful, malicious *It is in a book, The Twenty-Six "Malignant" Gates, all the bad things that can happen to you outside the protection of this house. (Part 2 Sonnet)

jaunty

(adj.) lively, easy, and carefree in manner; smart or trim in appearance *...In fact, as I watched her, she seemed quite happy, her two brown braids bouncing "jauntily" in rhythm to her walk. (Lena St. Clair)

tactful

(adj.) skilled in handling difficult situations or people, polite *And Rich grins, gestures his thumb toward my mother, and says to me, 'Can you believe what comes out of her mouth? Now I know where you get your sweet, "tactful" nature'.

prodigal

(adj.) wastefully extravagant; lavishly or generously abundant; (n.) one who is wasteful and self-indulgent *I saw what I had to do so I would not have to marry Arnold. I began to leave more rice in my bowl. And then I extended my "prodigal" ways beyond Chinese food. (Lena St. Clair)

chagrin

(n.) irritation or humiliation caused by disappointment or frustration; (v.) to cause such a feeling *Seventeen years ago she was "chagrined" when I started dating Ted. My older sisters had dated only Chinese boys from church before getting married. (Rose Hsu Jordan)

prestige

High standing; respect earned by accomplishments *...embroidered with the Huang family name in the ancient style, and many precious things that gave the look of wealth and old "prestige". (LIndo Jong)

pretext

a false reason, deceptive excuse *Two years ago, she had tried to evict them on the "pretext" that relatives from China were coming to live there. (Jing-Mei Woo)

lament

a passionate expression of grief or sorrow * 'My fate and my "penance",' she began to "lament", pulling her long fingers through her hair, 'to live here on the moon, while my husband lives on the sun. (Amah [servant])

meager

a small amount *What fine food we treated ourselves to with our "meager" allowances! (Suyuan Woo)

gruel

a thin porridge *She traded the "gruel" for two feet from a pig. (Jing-Mei Woo)

acquiesce

accept something reluctantly but without protest *I had wished her out of my life, and she had "acquiesced", floating out of her body to escape my terrible hatred. (Waverly Jong)

indignity

an insult to one's pride; offensive or humiliating treatment *I was like the Christ child lifted out of the straw manger, crying with holy "indignity". (Jing-Mei Woo)

apparition

an unreal figure; a ghost *That is how Amah found me: an "apparition" covered with blood. (Ying-Ying St. Clair)

penance

atonement for sin * 'My fate and my "penance",' she began to "lament", pulling her long fingers through her hair, 'to live here on the moon, while my husband lives on the sun. (Amah [servant])

discreet

careful about what one says or does * 'We're out of rice,' I say, "discreetly" nodding toward my mother, whose back is turned to me. (Lena St. Clair)

wary

careful, cautious *I walked over to the edge and looked at the bird. He looked back at me "warily" with one eye. (Ying-Ying St. Clair)

pious

deeply religious *They were "pious" people, Muslims, who believed the twin babies were a sign of double luck, and they were sure when, later in the evening, they discovered how valuable the babies were. (Jing-Mei Woo)

fragile

easily broken *My mother could sense that the wormen of these families also had unspeakable tragedies they had left behind in China and hopes they couldn't begin to express in their "fragile" English. (Jing-Mei Woo)

docile

easily taught; submissive to instruction *I did not like to play with Third Wife's daughters, who were as "docile" and dull as their mother. (An-Mei Hsu)

betrothed

engaged *This is how I became "betrothed" to Huang Taitai's son, who I later discovered was just a baby, one year younger than I. (Lindo Jong)

auspicious

favorable; fortunate *I chose an "auspicious" day, the third day of the third month. (Lindo Jong)

malodorous

foul-smelling *He wore a dark, "malodorous" suit. (Waverly Jong)

pristine

fresh and clean; uncorrupted *And so I watched her, seeing her reaction to the changes in my apartment--from the "pristine" habitat I maintained after the divorce... (Waverly Jong)

sonorous

full, deep, or rich in sound; impressive in style *He made everyone laugh and his own laugh was deep, "sonorous", masculinely sexy. (Waverly Jong)

posterity

future generations *What if they tell me this curving line branching into three oval shapes is a pomegranate and that my mother was wishing me fertility and "poserity"? (Jing-Mei Woo)

vehemence

intensity or forcefulness of expression *Their faces were covered with every kind of misery I could imagine: pits and pustules, cracks and bumps, and fissures that I was sure erupted with the same "vehemence" as snails writhing in a bed of salt... (Lena St. Clair)

discordant

lacking harmony or agreement *But I was so determined not to try, not to be anybody different that I learned to play only the most ear-splitting preludes, the most "discordant" hymns. (Jing-Mei Woo)

concubine

mistress *She prepared herself to return to Tientsin, where she had dishonored her widowhood by becoming the third "concubine" to a rich man. (An-Mei Hsu)

inviolable

never to be broken, infringed, or dishonored *From the very moment she flung her fist away from her mouth to cry, I knew my feelings for her were inviolable. (Waverly Jong)

imperial

of or relating to an empire *Someone, probably Huang Taitai, had added "imperial" dragon heads at the corners of the roof. (Lindo Jong)

dowry

property or money brought by a bride to her husband on their marriage *All the heavy furniture and bedding had to be left behind, and these were promised to the Huangs as my "dowry". (Lindo Jong)

recoup

regain *...Auntie An-mei tried to "recoup" her loss by saying it truly was more blesses to give than receive... (Jing-Mei Woo)

impertinent

rude and disrespectful * 'You want to take your daughter and ruin her life as well!' Uncle stamped his foot at this "impertinent" thought. (An-Mei Hsu)

forlorn

sad and lonely *But insted of feeling relieved, I feel "forlorn". I think about what my mother said, about activating my genes and becoming Chinese. And I wonder what she meant. (Jing-Mei Woo)

pungent

sharp and irritating to the senses *There was another smell outside, something burning, a "pungent" fragrance that was half sweet and half bitter. (Ying-Ying St. Clair)

lustrous

shiny *Back then your mother had hair down to her waist, which she tied high up on her head. And she had unusual skin, a "lustrous" pink color. (An-Mei Hsu)

insolent

showing a rude and arrogant lack of respect *She looked strange, too, like the missionary ladies at our school who were "insolent" and boddy in their too-tall shoes, foreign clothes, and short hair. (An-Mei Hsu)

apathetic

showing or feeling no interest, enthusiasm, or concern *It went from disappointment to contempt to "apathetic" boredom. It wasn't until after we separated, on nights when Shoshana was asleep and I was lonely, that I wondered if perhaps my mother had poisoned my marriage. (Waverly Jong)

refrain

stop oneself from doing something *So your mother kowtowed in the pagoda, pledging to observe the right harmony of body, thoughts, and speech, to "refrain" from giving opinions, and to shun weath. (An-Mei Hsu)

stifle

suppress * 'What's so funny?' said Ted angrily. 'Sorry,' I said. 'It's just that...' and I was trying hard to "stifle" my giggles, but one of them escaped through my nose with a snort, which made me laugh more. (Rose Hsu Jordan)

garish

tastelessly showy *This pendant was not a piece of jewelry I would have chosen for myself...To me, the whole effect looked wrong: too large, too green, too "garnishly" ornate. (Jing-Mei Woo)

covet

to desire something belonging to another *This ring, she told me, drew coveting stares from women and made them inattentive to the children they guarded so jealously. (Rose Hsu Jordan)

elude

to escape notice; to get away from *It was said that he cured a woman dying of an ancestral curse that had "eluded" the best of American doctors. (Waverly Jong)

relent

to give in *Vincent at first refused to let me play, but when I offered my Life Savers as replacements for the buttons that filled in for the missing pieces, he "relented". (Waverly Jong)

revere

to honor, to regard with respect *They said they always "revered" her as their true mother. They kept a framed picture of her. They told her about their life... (Jing-Mei Woo)

tout

to publicly brag *I was still some 429 points away from grand-master status, but I was "touted" as the Great American Hope, a child prodigy and a girl to boot. (Waverly Jong)

simper

to smile or speak in a silly, forced way *She was looking behind at everyone with a "simpering" smile, as if they were there to honor her... (An-Mei Hsu)

sully

to soil, stain, tarnish, defile, besmirch *I'd never known love so pure, and I was afraid that it would become "sullied" by my mother. (Waverly Jong)

deplete

to use up; waste *When the train pulled out of Hangzhou the next day, Hsus found themselves "depleted" of some nine thousand dollars' worth of goodwill. (Jing-Mei Woo)

admonish

to warn *I nodded my head and began to run toward her, my self running ahead, 'Slowly, go slowly,' admonished Amah.

chafe

to wear or irritate, often through rubbing or friction *...seeping into my pillow, "chafing" the back of my neck and puffing up my cheeks, so that I awoke that morning with a restless complaint. (Ying-Ying St. Clair)

writhing

twisting and turning in pain *My body was writhing as if I were seized by a terrible pain. (Lindo Jong)

felicitous

well chosen or suited to the circumstances *She had even commissioned someone to write "felicitous" messages on red banners...to congratulate me on my good luck. (Lindo Jong)

guileless

without deceit *With her smooth face, she looked like a young girl, frail, "guileless", and innocent, (Waverly Jong)