I was reading James C. Scott's Two Cheers for Anarchism (2012) and came across this curious use of the word "labor."
Besides wondering whether utter penury lay ahead for them and what role I might have in it, for my hosts there was the more immediate question of my frail comprehension of German and the danger it posed for their small farm. Would I let the pigs out the wrong gate and into a neighbor's field? Would I give the geese the feed intended for the bulls? Would I remember always to lock the door when I was working in the barn in case the Gypsies came? I had, it is true, given them more than ample cause for alarm in the first week, and they had taken to shouting at me in the vain hope we all seem to have that yelling will somehow overcome any language barrier. They managed to maintain a veneer of politeness, but the glances they exchanged at supper told me their patience was wearing thin. The aura of suspicion under which I labored, not to mention my manifest incompetence and incomprehension, was in turn getting on my nerves.
I decided, for my sanity as well as for theirs, to spend one day a week in the nearby town of Neubrandenburg. Getting there was not simple. The…
Does it mean that the author was struggling against that aura of incompetence he was perceived to exude?
Best Answer
This definition fits:
AHD labor
verb 4. To suffer from distress or a disadvantage:
labored under the misconception that others were cooperating.
This one, too:
Merriam-Webster labor
verb 3: to suffer from some disadvantage or distress
labor under a delusion
And this one:
Free Dictionary labor
to labour under a misapprehension.
The last definition points out that labor in this sense is usually followed by under, and the other pertinent examples, as well as your example (under which I labored), use the same preposition.
The quote specifically mentions the aura of suspicion, which does seem to be suspicion of incompetence.