Both Uses of
mutilate
in
Black Like Me
- One can scarcely conceive the full horror of it unless one is a parent who takes a close look at his children and then asks himself how he would feel if a group of men should come to his door and tell him they had decided—for reasons of convenience to them—that his children's lives would henceforth be restricted, their world smaller, their educational opportunities less, their future mutilated.†
*mutilated = severely injured or damaged
- In some communities a Negro's right hand was mutilated if he learned to read and write.†
Definition:
severely injure or damage -- for example by cutting up