Word of the Day, Thursday April 23rd

Carapace
- noun
a bony or chitinous shield, test, or shell covering some or all of the dorsal part of an animal, as of a turtle.

The definition is pretty straight forward. But listen how Henry Miller uses it in The Rosy Crucifixion:

Arthur Raymond, on the other hand, gave the illusion of devouring a book's contents...His sole concern was to ingest, to assimilate, to redistribute. He was a vandal. Each new book represented a new conquest. Books fortified his ego. He didn't grow, he became puffed with pride and arrogance. He looked for corroborations in order to sally forth and give battle. He wouldn't permit himself to be made over. He could render tribute to the author he admired but he could never bend the knee. He remained adamant and inflexible; his carapace grew thicker and thicker. He was the type of man who, upon finishing a book, can talk of nothing else for weeks to come.

I especially like the last sentence. Is that you? It sure sounds like me. "Well what you just said really reminds me of this great novel, The Unbearable Lightness of Being...." Don't worry. Miller will come after you. But he likes to criticize because his own moral compass is deceptively strong. In Arthur Raymond there is also a small gem of himself. He attacks him and through that exchange reveals the true, deep extent of his own guilt. Now who's carapace is thick! What a writer. See you tomorrow for Friday's WORD OF THE DAY!