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Definition: The choice of words and phrases in speech or writing to create a certain style.

Example #1: "When they come in the house I'm all in a state of shock and just don't know how to act with two colored boys heaving my dead daddy onto a roller cot." (Page 1)

Example #2: "No matter how good it looks to you it is still a colored biscuit." (Page 32)

Example #3: "It must have got her goat when old Ellen ran away from him." (Page 75)

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Definition: A sudden memory of an event in the past.

"I lived on a farm with my mama and daddy but they hired colored people to do my part of the slave labor. I was too small to work right. I used to play in the fields with Starletta and watch her mama and daddy chop but I never figured it would be me one day." (Page 63)

Ellen says this while living with her grandmoether and being sent to work in the fields with Mavis and the others. She remembers how she once had other people doing her work, but now she has to be the one that works.

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"I am strong as a ox." (Page 47)

Ellen says this while she was living with Julia and a boy at her school talked about her being the teacher's pet. Ellen has been through many hardships such as her mom dying and her father being an alcoholic, but she continues to have a strong personality.

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"That is how I felt some days. Like a old monster zombie who was a girl a while back." (Page 68)

Ellen says this while she was living with her grandma. She means that her grandma made her feel meaningless sometimes.

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Definition: A comparison between two unlike things using the words like or as.

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"When it turned summer I went to my mama's mama's house." (Page 60)

The judge decides that Ellen's grandmother should have custody of Ellen so she goes to live with her grandma.

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"I stayed at the art teacher's house until it got warm and green outside....She lived in a blue house with plants in the windows and hanging all in the kitchen." (Page 46)

Ellen had to stay at Julia's house until the state decided what to do with her.

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"We have to drive through colored town to get to the church." (Page 19)

Based on how Ellen talks, we can conclude that this novel takes place when segregation still existed.

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Definition: Having an ability to make new things or think of new ideas.

"I had to have something to do so mostly I played catalog. I picked out the little family first and then the house things and the clothes." (Page 26)

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Definition: Showing consideration for the needs of other people.

"I got Starletta and her mama and daddy a nice spoon rest." (Page 27)

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Definition: Fully developed.

"I figured out what I needed and took it. You got the lights, gas to heat and cook, food, and extras." (Page 25)

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Definition: A recurring object or idea.

"My new mama lays out the food and we all take a turn to dish it out....I have a bag of candy to eat on. One piece at a time....The oven door squeaks and she's holding soft round biscuits." (Pages 4, 5 & 13)

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Definition: Placing two things beside each other for comparison or contrast.

"Oh no. She comes in and he lets into her right away....Nobody yells after anybody to do this or that here." (Pages 3&4)

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Definition: A comparison between two dissimilar things.

"More like a big mean baby than a grown man." (Page 3)

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Definition: An object, person, or event that represents an abstract idea different from the literal meaning.

"I can smell the storm and see the air thick with the rain coming. He will sleep through the thunder and rain. And oh how I have my rage and desire for the lightning to come and strike a vengeance on him. But I do not control the clouds or the thunder." (Page 7)