The Awakening and Selected Short Fiction (Barnes & Noble Classics) - Kate Chopin [145]
50
If only you could know! (Fr.).
51
Stewed fish (Fr.).
52
A broad, tree-lined avenue that parallels Canal Street on the downriver side of the French Quarter; a prestigious location, the street was lined by large, affluent homes and gardens belonging to the Creole elite.
53
A firm, lustrous fabric used for drapes, napkins, and tablecloths.
54
Proprieties; social conventions (Fr.).
55
Jasmine; a fragrant flower.
56
A covered porch to shelter passengers as they enter and exit a carriage (Fr.).
57
An evening of music (Fr.).
58
Weariness and dissatisfaction.
59
As a good housewife (Fr.).
60
An artist’s studio.
61
Located across the French Quarter from the Pontellier home, a street that ended in a waterfront wharf.
62
Furnished rooms (Fr.).
63
A street at the center of the French Quarter.
64
An architectural style belonging to the period when New Orleans was under Spanish rule (1762-1803).
65
Sparkling, brimming enthusiastically.
66
A foot or leg covering made from heavy woolen fabric.
67
The beautiful woman (Fr.).
68
Indeed! (Fr.).
69
A wide street in New Orleans that formed a dividing line between the French and American districts.
70
My goodness! (Fr.).
71
A disparaging reference to women’s clubs popular during the late 19th century.
72
As a friend (Fr.).
73
Until Thursday (Fr.).
74
Middle class, common.
75
Grosbeak, a species of bird.
76
Rare.
77
A French confection made from whole chestnuts preserved in sugar solution.
78
A horse-drawn vehicle.
79
The Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg (1843-1907), whose music is noted for a refined lyrical sense.
80
A firm cheese from France or Switzerland.
81
Scar (Fr.).
82
Great spirit (Fr.).
83
My queen; my love (Fr.).
84
A cylindrical seat or stool without arms or back.
85
A sudden and unexpected overthrow of power (Fr.).
86
If his necktie was straight.
87
In the late stages of pregnancy (Fr.).
88
A dim-witted person.
89
A pair of eyeglasses with a handle.
90
Pseudonym; pen name (Fr.).
91
Main courses and side dishes (Fr.).
92
Pompano, a fish from Florida or the West Indies. In New Orleans it is typically cooked in parchment.
93
A street in the American Quarter running parallel to Canal Street; according to legend, it was once lost in a cypress swamp, and was thus named for the Spanish word meaning “lost.”
94
Awaiting delivery; ill (Fr.).
95
Good night, my love; be good (Fr.).
96
Good Lord! (Fr.).
97
The lines are from “A Cameo,” a sonnet about insatiable desire and the inevitability of death, by the English poet Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837-1909).
98
See chap. 14, p. 48.
99
What your eyes are saying to me now (Fr.).
100
Garden; flower-bed (Fr.).
101
Household (Fr.).
102
Cozy room.
103
Twenty-one (Fr.), or blackjack, a card game.
104
A scarf used to tie back the hair (Fr.).
105
Regional dialect; here specifically, an Acadian dialect combining archaic French with English, Spanish, German, and Native American words.
106
A smooth, level white road paved with shells leading to Lake Pontchartrain.
107
A mulatto woman (Fr.); that is, one of mixed black and white heritage.
108
The offspring of a black man and a mulatto woman.
109
Small pieces of lumber used for house framing.
110
The reference is to Lucius Licinus Lucullus, a Roman general of the first century A.D. who was famous for his banquets.
111
Venus, the Roman goddess of love and fertility, known for her romantic intrigues and affairs with both gods and mortals. The daughter of Jupiter and Dione, she is said to have emerged full-grown from the ocean foam.
112
Voluptuously beautiful virgins.
113
A river feeding into the Mississippi.
114
The reference to Browning and Ibsen distinguishes Mildred as a woman with sophisticated literary tastes from the farmhands who surround her. Robert Browning (1812-1889) was a major English poet noted for his mastery of dramatic monologue and psychological portraiture ; Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) was a