Welcome to Wondrous Words Wednesday, hosted by Kathy at Bermudaonion.net. Word nerdy bloggers use this meme to share interesting words they’ve come across in their reading. It’s a great way to learn some new vocab!
My entry this week comes from my current read, The Language of Flowers, by Vanessa Diffenbaugh. It tells the story of Victoria, who has spent her childhood shuffling through foster homes, one more abusive than the next. When I started reading, I worried the book would be too dark. But I’m a few chapters in, enjoying Diffenbaugh’s style, and learning interesting facts about flowers. (Did you know yellow roses stand for infidelity?)
As the novel opens, Victoria turns eighteen and is “emancipated” from the foster care system. She’s penniless, homeless, and cares for nothing, except her flowers. She uses them to communicate with other people.
For most of a decade I’d spent every spare moment memorizing the meanings and scientific descriptions of individual flowers, but the knowledge went mostly unutilized. I used the same flowers again and again: a bouquet of marigold, grief; a bucket of thistle, misanthropy; a pinch of dried basil, hate.
Misanthropy fits the prickly weed and Victoria’s jaded character.
misanthropy \mi-‘san-thrə-pē\ noun, from Greek misein- to hate + anthropos man; hatred or distrust of mankind
Motivated by extreme misanthropy, Victoria refused the young man’s gift.
Word Nerd Workout
Can you think of another character who epitomizes misanthropy?
Julia
