| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Apathy | Lack of concern |
| Adulation | Excessive flattery or admiration |
| Ambivalence | Opposing attitudes towards a person or thing |
| Arbitrary | Determined by chance or impulse |
| Advocate | To speak in favor of |
| Aesthetic | Pertaining to beauty |
| Affable | Showing warmth and friendliness |
| Articulate | To utter clearly in distinct syllables |
| Augment | To add or make greater |
| Benevolent | Desiring to help others |
| Brevity | Briefness |
| Cajole | To urge with gentle flattery |
| Coercion | Using force and gaining compliance |
| Complacency | Feeling of self-satisfaction or contentment |
| Comprehensive | A large scope; Covering much |
| Condone | To pardon or forgive |
| Contentious | Arrogent, argumental, controversal, quarrelsome |
| Criteria | Standards that need to be met |
| Decorum | Dignified propriety of behavior |
| Delineate | To describe with precision |
| Deplore | To express strong disapprovel, to condemn |
| Derivative | Copied or adapted from |
| Devious | Not straight forward; Crooked or shifty |
| Diffuse | To spread thinfully or wastefully |
| Digression | Departure from the main topic |
| Discrepancy | Disagreement between facts or claims |
| Disdain | To treat with contempt; To despise |
| Disparage | To reduce in esteem or rank |
| Dogmatic | Asserting opinions in an arrogant way |
| Eclectic | Selected independent elements from a variety of sources |
| Elusive | Cleverly evasive |
| Emulate | To try to equal or excell |
| Enigma | One puzzling, ambiguous, or unexplained |
| Euphemism | Act of substituting an indirect term for a harsher one |
| Exacerbate | Increase of severety or violence; To aggravate |
| Exonerate | Free from blame, responsibility, or obligation |
| Explicit | Clearly expressed |
| Exploit | To use selfishly |
| Facilitate | To make easier |
| Fastidious | To display careful, meticulous attention to detail |
| Fervor | Warmth; Intensity of emotion |
| Frivolous | Unworthy of serious attention |
| Gratuitous | Given; Obtained freely or voluntarily |
| Gregarious | Sociable |
| Guile | Crafty, artful deception |
| Gullible | Easily deceived |
| Heresy | Controversial or unorthodox opinion of religion, politics, science, or philosophy |
| Implausible | Difficult to believe |
| Incorrigible | Incapable of being corrected or reformed |
| Innate | Possessed at birth |
| Insipid | Harmless, no adverse effect |
| Inundate | To cover or flood with water |
| Lethargic | Deficient in alertness or activity |
| Listless | Lacking energy; Disinclined to exert effort |
| Malicious | Resulting from malice; harmful |
| Meticulous | Taking extreme care; In minute detail |
| Mitigate | To alleviate or make milder |
| Mundane | Common or ordinary |
| Nonchalance | Cool or indifferent |
| Novelty | New or unique |
| Obstinate | Stubborn or adhering to attitude; Opiniated course of action |
| Opulence | Wealth, riches, affluence |
| Pacifist | Belief that disputes between nations that should and can be handled peacefully |
| Partisan | Partial to a specific party or group |
| Philanthropist | Someone that increases the well-being of mankind |
| Piety | Religous devotions |
| Pragmatic | Dealing in facts or actual occurences |
| Precocious | Manifesting or characterized |
| Jefferson | African-American accused of robbery and murder. Condemned to die in the electric chair. |
| Miss Emma | Jefferson's Godmother |
| Tante Lou | Grant Wiggin's Aunt. |
| Henri Pichot | Plantation owner. Convinces Sam Guidry to allow Grant to visit Jefferson. |
| Vivian Baptiste | Grant Wiggin's girlfriend. |
| Joe Claiborne | Owns the Rainbow Club Bar. |
| Sam Guidry | More strict sheriff that allows Grant to see Jefferson. |
| Paul Bonin | Kind, caucasion sheriff |
| Reverend Ambrose | Preacher that assists Grant in Jefferson's predicament. |
| Mathew Antoine | Grant's old teacher; Racist against African-Americans |
| Climax | Highest point of interest |
| Metaphor | Comparing two things that aren't alike |
| Personification | Speech as if in-human things had human traits. |
| Simile | The comparison of two unlike things using the terms "like" or "as". |
| Polyphemus | Cyclops blinded by Odysseus. Son of the Sea God, Poseidon. Lives on an island known as Sicily. |
| Circe | Witch-goddess that turns Odysseus' men into swine. |
| Calypso | Beautiful goddess-nymph who keeps Odysseus on her island for seven years. |
| Athena | Favorite daughter of Zeus. The great goddess of wisdom and the arts of war and peace. |
| Zeus | The most powerful god whose home is on Mount Olympus. |
| Poseidon | God of the sea; Brother of Zeus; Enemy of Odysseus; Called earthshaker because it was believed that he caused earthquakes. |
| Hermes | Messenger god. |
| Teresias | Famous blind prophet from the city of Thebes. Odysseus meets him in the land of the dead. |
| Sirens | Sea-nymphs whose beautiful and mysterious music lured sailors to steer their ships towards the rocks. |
| King Aeolus | Wind god; Supplied a bag of winds to Odysseus during his journey. |
| Homer | Author of The Odyssey. |
| Penelope | Odysseus' faithful wife. |
| Antinous | One of Penelope's leading suitors. An arrogant and mean young noble from Ithaca. |
| Eumaeus | Swineherd; One of Odysseus' loyal servants. |
| Scylla | Female monster with six serpent heads and a triple row of fangs. (Thought to be a dangerous rock in Strait of Messina). |
| Charybdis | Female monster who sucks in water three times a day to form deadly whirpools. (Thought to form a regular whirpool in Strait of Messina. |
| Thrinkia | Cattle of the sun god, Helios. |
| Epic | A long narrative based on a journey. |
| Helios | Sun god |
| Phaecians | Ship-builders and traders on the island Phaecia. Ruled by King Alcinous. |
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