Bless Me, Ultima s1

Bless Me, Ultima

Vocabulary Worksheet

Read the following words as they appear in the context of the book. First, recognize what part of speech the word is (noun, verb, adjective, adverb) and write this after the sentence given. On line (a) write what you think the word means. On line (b) write a dictionary definition. On line (c) use the word in a sentence of your own (you must use the same form of the word that is given).

1. doily – …and I knew her nimble fingers worked the pattern on the doily she crocheted for the big chair in the sala.

2. tenaciously – The move lowered my father in the esteem of his compadres, the other vaqueros of the llano who clung tenaciously to their way of life and freedom.

3. exorcise – And I had heard that Ultima could lift the curses laid by brujas, that she could exorcise the evil the witches planted in people to make them sick.

4. vagabonds – “Always on the move, like gypsies, always dragging their families around the country like vagabonds.”

5. Sacrament – I was to hear the confessions of the silent people of the valley, and I was to administer the holy Sacrament to them.

6. bosque – I pushed through the dense bosque until I came to the bank of the river.

7. barrage – One single shot sounded then a barrage followed it like the roar of a cannon, like the rumble of thunder in a summer thunderstorm.

8. catechism and communion – I had not yet been to catechism, nor had I made my first holy communion, but my mother had taught me the Act of Contrition.

catechism

9. communion

10. interminable – … and they had more time to spend in the attic and cut out an interminable train of paper dolls which they dressed, gave names to, and most miraculously, made talk.

11. cursory – My mother took one last cursory glance at her brood then led the way up the goat path.

12. admonish – Also, my mother admonished us to bow our heads when we passed in front of the house.

13. bray – “Whagggggggh!” He brayed. “The little runt actually threw me, he threw me?”

14. melee – For a long time I was held hypnotized by the thundering herd, then with a cry of resolution exploding from my throat I rushed into the melee.

15. turgid – They were like turgid animals who did things mechanically.

16. audacity – His forwardness and audacity often caught them off guard.

17. quavered – His voice quavered.

18. contrivance – “He must know that those who tamper with fate are often swallowed by their own contrivance.”

19. pallor – Before he did not seem to breathe, but now his chest heaved with the breath of life and the pallor was gone from his face.

20. excommunication – The entire village was witness to the excommunication.

21. perdition – He would have to bury his daughter in unholy ground, and without the saving grace of the mass her soul was doomed to perdition.

22. eucharist – I had seen evil, and so I carried the evil within me, and the holy sacraments of confession and the holy eucharist were far away.

23. desecrated – The townspeople had killed Lupito at the bridge and desecrated the river.

24. absolution – He returned to the tree where he committed his mortal sin to find some absolution for his crime.

25. heresy – I had listened to Florence’s heresy, but the God of the church had not hurled his thunder at me.

26. genuflected – The line moved past the water fonts where we wet our fingers and genuflected as we made the sign of the cross.

27. venial – Venial sins were small sins, like saying bad words or not going to the Stations of the Cross during Lent.

28. sacrilegious – Florence was calmly accepting the sacrilegious game we were playing, but then it didn’t matter to him, he didn’t believe.

29. sardonically – “The imagination!” Tellez laughed sardonically, “this is not imagined!”

30. brackish – We had not brought food and so the only thing we had was water from the well, which tasted brackish.