- fur piecephraseChapter 1 →
A long distance away; a regional Southern expression meaning 'far away,' used here to emphasize how far Lena has traveled on foot.
“I have come from Alabama: a fur piece. All the way from Alabama a-walking. A fur piece.”
- a-walkingverbChapter 1 →
A dialectal Southern form of 'walking,' using the prefix 'a-' before a present participle, common in rural Appalachian and Deep South speech of the period.
“All the way from Alabama a-walking. A fur piece.”
- grimacenounChapter 2 →
A twisted, distorted expression on someone's face, here showing a mix of fear and fury rather than pain.
“She looked at him, her face still fixed in that grimace of terror and rage.”
- nigger bastardphraseChapter 2 →
A viciously racist slur combined with a term for an illegitimate child, used here as a weapon of contempt and racial hatred directed at the young Joe Christmas.
“'You little nigger bastard,' she said.”
- dietitiannounChapter 3 →
A staff member at an institution responsible for planning and overseeing food and meals; at the orphanage she holds a position of authority over the children.
- catechismnounChapter 6 →
A set of religious questions and answers, used to teach the basic beliefs of a Christian denomination; McEachern forces Joe to memorize it as a form of strict Calvinist discipline.
“He was not afraid of the strap. He was not afraid of anything. He just refused to learn the catechism.”
- strapnounChapter 6 →
A strip of leather used as an instrument of corporal punishment, especially to beat a child as discipline.
“He was not afraid of the strap. He was not afraid of anything. He just refused to learn the catechism.”
- CalvinistadjectiveChapter 6 →
Relating to the strict Protestant theology of John Calvin, which emphasizes predestination, human sinfulness, and rigid moral discipline; used here to describe McEachern's harsh, unforgiving religious outlook.
- irrevocablyadverbChapter 6 →
In a way that cannot be undone, reversed, or taken back; permanently and finally.
“He felt a loathing and a disgust that he had never felt before, as if something had been irrevocably lost.”
- loathingnounChapter 6 →
An intense, deep feeling of disgust and hatred toward something or someone.
“He felt a loathing and a disgust that he had never felt before, as if something had been irrevocably lost.”
- agencynounChapter 5 →
The action or involvement of a person or force in bringing something about; here it means the physical participation of a woman in giving birth.
“It was as though he had never had a mother; as though he had been created without agency of woman, sprung from some violent and irrevocable instant of darkness.”
- sprungverbChapter 5 →
Past participle of 'spring,' meaning to have come into being suddenly and without natural origin, as if conjured from nothing.
“as though he had been created without agency of woman, sprung from some violent and irrevocable instant of darkness.”
- bootleggingverbChapter 9 →
Illegally making, transporting, or selling alcohol, especially during or after the Prohibition era in the United States.
- planing millnounChapter 9 →
A factory or workshop where lumber is smoothed and shaped by machines called planers; Joe and Brown work there as laborers.
- phantomnounChapter 10 →
A ghost-like figure that seems unreal or not fully present; used here to describe Joanna as appearing disconnected from the physical world.
“In the less than half light she looked like a phantom, rootless, severed from the earth.”
- rootlessadjectiveChapter 10 →
Having no fixed home, stable identity, or sense of belonging; drifting without attachment to any place or community.
“In the less than half light she looked like a phantom, rootless, severed from the earth.”
- severedverbChapter 10 →
Cut off or completely separated from something; here used figuratively to mean detached from the ground and from ordinary human life.
“In the less than half light she looked like a phantom, rootless, severed from the earth.”
- corruptedverbChapter 11 →
Morally ruined or made impure; caused someone to lose their integrity or innocence through a bad influence.
“She had corrupted him. He knew it, and he hated her for it.”
- cylindernounChapter 12 →
The rotating part of a revolver that holds the cartridges; removing it makes the gun impossible to fire.
“He went to the table and took up the pistol and removed the cylinder and put it in his pocket and laid …”
- deputynounChapter 12 →
A law-enforcement officer who works under and assists the county sheriff, authorized to carry out official duties in the sheriff's name.
“The town had not yet heard about the fire when, the next day, the sheriff's deputy found the body.”
- gatheringverbChapter 13 →
Coming together as a crowd in one place, used here to describe townspeople assembling at the scene of a crime or disaster out of morbid curiosity rather than to help.
“the men were already gathering, with that quality of those who run to fires and accidents, not to help but to look.”
- martialadjectiveChapter 19 →
Relating to soldiers, warfare, and military life; used here to describe Percy Grimm's intense, almost obsessive devotion to military ideals and discipline.
- cavalrynounChapter 4 →
Soldiers who fight on horseback; here referring specifically to Confederate horse-soldiers of the Civil War, whose charge haunts Hightower's imagination.
“He had wanted to preach the word of God, but what he had preached was the Confederate cavalry charge.”
- hoovesnounChapter 4 →
The hard coverings on the feet of horses; the sound of hooves thundering represents the cavalry charge that dominates Hightower's obsessive inner life.
“Then he heard it again, the thunder of the hooves, the dying thunder of the charge.”
- self-imposed exilephraseChapter 20 →
A withdrawal from society that a person chooses for themselves rather than being forced into; Hightower voluntarily cuts himself off from the community after his disgrace.
- alibinounChapter 18 →
A claim or proof that a person accused of a crime was somewhere else when it was committed, making it impossible for them to be guilty.
- castratesverbChapter 19 →
Removes the male sex organs, either surgically or by violence; here it is the final act of brutal dehumanization Percy Grimm inflicts on Joe Christmas after shooting him.
- predatoryadjectiveChapter 11 →
Behaving like a hunter pursuing prey; used here to describe the aggressive, exploitative quality of the early stage of Joe and Joanna's relationship.
Light in AugustNovel by William Faulkner