The word appears 25 times.
I have yet to read this novel, but can provide some context. This take place in the same setting and same era as The Studs Lonigan books. The novel tells the story of 20-year-old Bigger Thomas, a black American youth living in utter poverty in a poor area on Chicago's South Side in the 1930s
It is surprising to me, having not read the book, that the word does not appear more often.
Not yet documented.