All 10 Uses
yearn
in
Native Son
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- They had the feeling that the robbing of Blum's would be a violation of ultimate taboo" it would be a trespassing into territory where the full wrath of an alien white world would be turned loose upon them" in short, it would be a symbolic challenge of the white world's rule over them" a challenge which they yearned to make, but were afraid to.†
Book 1yearned = strongly desired
- He felt that they wanted and yearned to see life in a certain way" they needed a certain picture of the world" there was one way of living they preferred above all others" and they were blind to what did not fit.†
Book 2
- He knew that Buddy was yearning to be with him, aching to share his confidence" but that could not happen now.†
Book 2yearning = strongly desiring; or a strong desire
- He had learned to shout and had shouted and no ear had heard him" he had just learned to walk and was walking but could not see the ground beneath his feet" he had long been yearning for weapons to hold in his hands and suddenly found that his hands held weapons that were invisible.†
Book 2
- He yearned suddenly to be back in bed with her, feeling her body warm and pliant to his.†
Book 2yearned = strongly desired
- He knew that whites thought that all Negroes yearned for white women, therefore he wanted to show a certain fearful deference even when one's name was mentioned in his presence.†
Book 2 *
- The singing filled his ears" it was complete, self-contained, and it mocked his fear and loneliness, his deep yearning for a sense of wholeness.†
Book 2yearning = strongly desiring; or a strong desire
- Why not kill that way ward yearning within him that had led him to this end?†
Book 3
- But that lie had only made him feel more shame for himself and more hate for them" it had hurt because he really yearned for that certainty of which his mother spoke and prayed, but he could not get it on the terms on which he felt he had to have it.†
Book 3yearned = strongly desired
- Though he lay on his cot, his hands were groping fumblingly through the city of men for something to match the feelings smoldering in him" his groping was a yearning to know.†
Book 3yearning = strongly desiring; or a strong desire
Definitions:
-
(1)
(yearn) have a strong desire -- often for something difficult or impossible to have
- (2) (meaning too rare to warrant focus)