What Is Atavism?

I’m almost done with All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, and I can’t rave enough about this book. Fantastic writing, beautiful description, excellent pacing. I know you’ve probably read plenty of books about WWII, but trust me, you can’t skip this one.

I keep a note card tucked inside my hardback copy of this novel so that I can jot down words I don’t know. Believe me, I’ve found plenty.

If you like learning about words, visit Kathy at Bermuda Onion for Wondrous Words Wednesday. You can comment on other people’s words and add your own in a blog post.

Here’s the quote for my Wondrous Word of the week:

Werner keeps to the center of the group as it strings out, his heart beating in dark confusion, wondering where Frederick is, why they’re chasing this boy, and what they’re supposed to do if they catch him.
Except in some atavistic part of his brain, he knows exactly what they’ll do.

Atavism \ˈa-tə-ˌvi-zəm\noun from the Latin atavus, ancestor

  • recurrence in an organism of a trait or character typical of an ancestral form and usually due to genetic recombination
  • recurrence of or reversion to a past style, manner, outlook, approach, or activity
  • adjective = atavistic – reverting to a past outlook, activity, approach

This quote comes from a scene of bullying encouraged by warped (Nazi) school administrators. I guess Werner has experienced the “pack mentality” of aggression and knows what to expect.

Word Nerd Workout

wondrous memeUse atavism/ atavistic in a sentence. This is a tough one for me.

Fashion rotates through atavistic cycles of style. The geometric prints in stores today remind me of the 80’s.

Don’t forget to visit Kathy at Bermuda Onion.

Thanks for getting nerdy with me today!

Julia

 

 

 

 

 

 

Julia Tomiak
I believe in the power of words to improve our lives, and I help people find interesting words to read. Member of SCBWI.

11 Comments

  1. There were lots of big words in that book! That’s one thing I love about reading on my iPad – a built-in dictionary. Otherwise I forget to look up the word later.

    “When Harold is upset or anxious, his behavior becomes atavistic, and he curls his lanky teenage body into a ball and rocks himself back to calmness.”

  2. I’m glad you liked the book! I did not look up that word when I read it 🙂 It has me thinking of The Jungle Book or the town meetings I attend in my little neck of the woods…

  3. Atavism could well have been a cheap knockoff of an early-day video game console.

    “In a sick bout of atavism, it turned out Eli’s ugly carpenter pants came back into fashion.”

    Wait, is that right?

  4. I loved this book too. But when listening to an audio, I sometimes miss “wondrous words”. I liked the audio because of the German and French words pronounced by the narrator. But I probably missed a lot of new words as I was so engrossed in the story. Thanks for sharing this one.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.