22 - myriad

Myriad

Original Source:

"Though Mrs. Clutter stored her clothes in the closets of this room, and kept her few cosmetics and her myriad medicine in the blue-tile-and-glass-brick bathroom adjoining it, she had taken for serious occupancy Eveanna's former bedroom, which, like Nancy's and Kenyon's rooms, was on the second floor."

Capote, Truman. In Cold Blood: A True Account of a Multiple Murder and its Consequences. New York: Vintage Books, 1994. Print.

Definition*:

a very great or indefinitely great number of persons or things.

*All definitions are from the source found in THIS post.

Second Source:

"A good man often appears gauche simply because he does not take advantage of the myriad mean little chances of making himself look stylish. Preferring truth to form, he is not constantly at work upon the facade of his appearance."

"Iris Murdoch Quotations." memorablequotations.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Jan. 2014. <http://www.memorablequotations.com/murdoch.htm>.

Commentary:
Upon first sight of the word in In Cold Blood, I thought the word myriad to be a medical term referring to medicines, remedies, and healing. However, the word has a more numerical meaning. Capote describes Mrs. Clutter's supply of medicine as abundant, to help her with the conditions she lives with. Murdoch describes a "good man" as someone who may appear sloppy and socially unacceptable at times because he does not pay attention to the many aspects that would improve his appearance. He prefers an honest look rather than polishing himself for the sake of others.