Look Homeward, Angel — Vocabulary
Thomas Wolfe
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And in this pillage of the loaded shelves, he found himself wedged firmly into the grotesque pattern of Protestant fiction which yields the rewards of Dionysus to the loyal disciples of John Calvin, panting and praying in a breath, guarding the plumtree with the altar fires, outdoing the pagan harlot with the sanctified hussy.19 more

She was as lithe and yielding to his sustaining hand as a willow rod—she was bird-swift, more elusive in repose than the dancing water-motes upon her face.19 more

He had a Dutch love of abundance: again and again he described the great stored barns, the groaning plenty of the Pennsylvanians.†20 more

There were two beds; he exulted in his unaccustomed occupancy of an entire mattress, dreaming of the day of manlike privacy.†24 more

But, in spite of this gauntness, she did not look hard-featured or raw-boned.†23 more

Two little boys, twins, with straight very blond heads, and thin, mean faces, raced up and down the sidewalk before the house incessantly on tricycles.†20 more

Steve hummed a monotonous, suggestive tune, and writhed sensually.†21 more

And that voice, flat, drawling, complacent, touched with sudden light a picture that had lain dead in him for twenty years.†12 more

Eliza waved to him and smiled tremulously; she turned back into the house sniffling, with wet eyes.†17 more

This starched and well brushed world of Sunday morning Presbyterianism, with its sober decency, its sense of restraint, its suggestion of quiet wealth, solid position, ordered ritual, seclusive establishment, moved him deeply with its tranquillity.†16 more

"Would you like some cold pork, son?" said Coker, with his yellow malicious grin.†11 more

At this moment Gant strode in out of the dusk, carrying a mottled package of pork chops, and muttering rhetorically to himself.†11 more

There was a droning interminable wait at a junction-town near the foot-hills.†16 more

Bacchus looked up benevolently from a whittled stick, and Will, glancing up from his stubby nails which he was paring as usual, greeted the visitor with a birdlike nod and wink.†10 more

He hated the jargon of the profession, which she had picked up somewhere long before, and which she used constantly with such satisfaction—smacking her lips as she spoke of "transients," or of "drumming up trade."†10 more

She had very thick black hair, straight and oily, and very black eyes, giving a heavy sensuousness to her face.†10 more

"Doctor," said Harry Tugman with servile medicine-man respect, "what do you charge to operate?"†8 more

Since his childhood he had been the witness of his father's wildest debauches.†7 more

He thought of the loamy black earth with its sudden young light of flowers, of the beaded chill of beer, and of the plumtree's dropping blossoms.†7 more

And he thought lusciously of mysterious and succulent food.†7 more