Both Uses of
obdurate
in
A Prayer for Owen Meany
- There was something about Mrs. Meany's obdurate self-imprisonment that smacked of religious persecution—if not eternal damnation.†
p. 31.0 *obdurate = stubbornly persistent
- For although the playground reflected an obdurate disrepair, the statue itself was whitewashed every spring, and even on the dullest, grayest days— despite being dotted here and there with birdshit and occasional stains of human desecration—Mary Magdalene attracted and reflected more light than any other object or human presence at St. Michael's.†
p. 274.9
Definition:
stubbornly persistent -- especially in wrongdoing
or more rarely (except in classic literature):
showing unfeeling resistance to tender feelings
or more rarely (except in classic literature):
showing unfeeling resistance to tender feelings