Summer of the Mariposas, Prologue-Chapter 3

Quixotic

• showing firm determination or purpose

• not sensible about practical matters

• lacking in physical beauty or proportion

• with obstinate determination

implausible

• resembling or characteristic of a phantom

• call forth, as an emotion, feeling, or response

• the act of making amends for sin or wrongdoing

• having a quality that provokes disbelief

Dilapidated

• in a state of decay, ruin, or deterioration

• a deceptive maneuver, especially to avoid capture

• having a quality that provokes disbelief

• become or cause to become more serious

Haphazard

• a current that flows away from the shore after waves break

• marked by great carelessness

• failing to make or recognize distinctions

• a miniature whirlpool or whirlwind

obscurity

• with obstinate determination

• unhealthy looking

• the state of being indistinct due to lack of light

• completely neat and clean

Erratic

• voluntary self-punishment in order to atone for something

• request earnestly; ask for aid or protection

• having no fixed course

• a ghostly appearing figure

apparition

• drab, old-fashioned, and unattractive

• a ghostly appearing figure

• in a state of decay, ruin, or deterioration

• walk in an emphatic or exaggerated way

Penance

• voluntary self-punishment in order to atone for something

• thoroughly dried out

• temporary stiffness of joints and muscles after death

• not sensible about practical matters

sallow

• call forth, as an emotion, feeling, or response

• unhealthy looking

• walk in an emphatic or exaggerated way

• (of a woman's body) having a large bosom and pleasing curves

ruse

• completely neat and clean

• the state of being indistinct due to lack of light

• having no fixed course

• a deceptive maneuver, especially to avoid capture