- parlournounChapter 1 →
A formal sitting room in a private house, kept for receiving guests rather than for everyday family use.
- tormentnounChapter 1 →
Severe, ongoing mental or emotional suffering that twists a person's inner life and shapes how others see them.
“He was the light-blinded bat-like image of his own torment cast by the fierce lamp of his own anguish.”
- anguishnounChapter 1 →
Extreme, almost unbearable emotional pain or distress, deeper and more lasting than ordinary sadness.
“He was the light-blinded bat-like image of his own torment cast by the fierce lamp of his own anguish.”
- ripplesnounChapter 1 →
Here used figuratively for the spreading, continuing effects of a single past event, the way consequences keep moving outward long after the cause.
“Maybe happen is never once but like ripples maybe on water after the pebble sinks, the ripples moving on, spreading.”
- wrestverbChapter 2 →
To take something away from someone by force or violent effort, without any legal or fair exchange.
“the same tactics and methods which he had used to wrest the land from the Indians—not by purchase but by ruthless …”
- ruthlessadjectiveChapter 2 →
Having no pity or mercy; willing to harm or destroy anything that stands in the way of a goal.
“the same tactics and methods which he had used to wrest the land from the Indians—not by purchase but by ruthless …”
- refinedadjectiveChapter 2 →
Belonging to the educated, genteel upper class; marked by polished manners and social respectability rather than rough frontier ways.
“the symbol of the refined and delicate flesh which he had come to regard as his just and sole reward.”
- justadjectiveChapter 2 →
Rightfully deserved or earned; used here to mean Sutpen believed he was fully entitled to this reward as a matter of fairness.
“the symbol of the refined and delicate flesh which he had come to regard as his just and sole reward.”
- articulatedverbChapter 3 →
Put into clear words or made consciously understandable; here the townspeople could not name or explain what they were witnessing.
“They were not articulated in knowing what they were seeing—what they were looking at was something like the bones of the town.”
- demoniacadjectiveChapter 3 →
Driven by a wild, almost supernatural force of evil or obsession, as if possessed by a demon.
“He was the light-blinded bat-like image of his own torment cast by the fierce demoniac lantern up against the very face of the earth.”
- articulateadjectiveChapter 4 →
Able to express thoughts and feelings clearly and fluently in speech; here used in the negative to describe someone whose presence communicated more than his words.
“He was not articulate in the accepted sense; he did not speak — he just was, and you knew it.”
- intelligencenounChapter 4 →
The rational, reasoning mind — the faculty that processes and makes sense of experience, distinct from raw emotion or physical sensation.
“There are some things which happen to us which the intelligence and the senses refuse just as the stomach sometimes refuses what the hand puts into the mouth.”
- arrestingadjectiveChapter 5 →
Stopping or checking movement or action suddenly; here the hand physically halts and holds back.
“that black arresting and untimorous hand on my white wrist.”
- untimorousadjectiveChapter 5 →
Not timid or fearful at all; bold and unafraid, especially in a situation where timidity might be expected.
“that black arresting and untimorous hand on my white wrist.”
- wistarianounChapter 6 →
An older spelling of wisteria, a climbing plant with hanging clusters of fragrant purple or white flowers, used here to evoke the heavy, dreamy atmosphere of a Southern summer.
“It was a summer of wistaria. The twilight was full of it and of the smell of his father's cigar as they sat on the front gallery after supper.”
- gallerynounChapter 6 →
A covered porch or veranda running along the outside of a Southern house, used as an outdoor sitting area.
“they sat on the front gallery after supper.”
- designnounChapter 7 →
A grand, carefully conceived life plan or ambition — here Sutpen's obsessive scheme to build a dynasty and achieve social greatness.
“He had a design. He had the innocence for it.”
- innocencenounChapter 7 →
A naive, unquestioning belief that one's goal is simply achievable and morally uncomplicated, without awareness of the human cost involved.
“He had a design. He had the innocence for it.”
- rag-tag and bob-endsphraseChapter 8 →
Scraps and leftover odds and ends; here it means the fragmentary, secondhand bits of old stories from which Quentin and Shreve piece together their version of events.
“compelled by what the two of them together had invented and created and brought into being out of the rag-tag and bob-ends of old tales and ta…”
- compelledverbChapter 8 →
Forced or driven by an irresistible inner pressure, not by free choice; unable to stop oneself from acting.
“both of them were Henry Sutpen and both of them were Bon, compelled by what the two of them together had invented and created.”
- pantingverbChapter 9 →
Breathing in rapid, shallow gasps, here conveying Quentin's extreme agitation and emotional strain rather than physical exertion.
“I dont hate it he thought, panting in the cold air, the iron New England dark; I dont. I dont! I dont hate it!”
Absalom, Absalom!Novel by William Faulkner