"Volar" Comprehension Questions At twelve I was an avid consumer of comic books—Supergirl being my favorite. I

spent my allowance of a quarter a day on two twelve-cent comic books or a double issue

for twenty-five. I had a stack of Legion of Super-Heroes and Supergirl comic books in

my bedroom closet that was as tall as I. I had a recurring dream in those days: that I had

long blond hair and could fly. In my dream, I climbed the stairs to the top of our apartment

building as myself, but as I went up against each flight, changes would be taking place. Step by

step I would fill out: my legs would grow long, my arms harden into steel, and my hair

would magically go straight and turn a golden color. . . . Supergirl had to be aerodynamic.

Sleek and hard as a supersonic missile. Once on the roof, my parents safely asleep in their

beds, I would get on tip-toe, arms outstretched in the position for flight, and jump out my

fifty-story-high window into the black lake of the sky. From up there, over the rooftops, I

could see everything, even beyond the few blocks of our barrio;1 with my X-ray vision I

could look inside the homes of people who interested me. Once I saw our landlord, whom

I knew my parents feared, sitting in a treasure-room dressed in an ermine coat and a large

gold crown. He sat on the floor counting his dollar bills. I played a trick on him. Going

up to his building’s chimney, I blew a little puff of my super-breath into his fireplace,

scattering his stacks of money so that he had to start counting all over again. I could

more or less program my Supergirl dreams in those days by focusing on the object of my

current obsession. This way I “saw” into the private lives of my neighbors, my teachers,

and in the last days of my childish fantasy and the beginning of adolescence, into the

secret room of the boys I liked. In the mornings I’d wake up in my tiny bedroom with

the incongruous—at least in our tiny apartment—white “princess” furniture my mother

had chosen for me, and find myself back in my body: my tight curls still clinging to my

head, skinny arms and legs . . . unchanged.

2 In the kitchen my mother and father would be talking softly over a café con Leche.2

She would come “wake me” exactly forty-five minutes after they had gotten up. It was

their time together at the beginning of each day and even at an early age, I could feel

their disappointment if I interrupted them by getting up too early. So I would stay in my

bed recalling my dreams of flight, perhaps planning my next flight. In the kitchen, they

would be discussing events in the barrio. Actually, he would be carrying that part of the

conversation; when it was her turn to speak she would, more often than not, try shifting

Volar

by Judith Ortiz Cofer

In this essay, Judith Ortiz Cofer recalls how her childhood fantasies and her mother’s dreams intersect.

Read the essay “Volar,” which means “to fly” in Spanish, and answer the questions that follow.

1 barrio — a Spanish-speaking neighborhood 2 café con Leche — Coffee with milk

116

Reading Comprehension Session 1

the topic toward her desire to see her family on the Island: How about a vacation in

Puerto Rico together this year, Querido? 3 We could rent a car, go to the beach. We could

. . . And he would answer patiently, gently, Mi Amor,4 do you know how much it would

cost for the all of us to fly there? I can't take the time off . . . Mi

Vida,5 please understand. . . . And I knew that soon she would rise from the table. Not

abruptly. She would light a cigarette and look out the kitchen window. The view was of

a dismal alley that was littered with refuse thrown from windows. The space was too

narrow for anyone larger than a skinny child to enter safely, so it was never cleaned.

My mother would check the time on the clock over her sink, the one with a prayer for

patience and grace written in Spanish. A birthday gift. She would see that it was time to

wake me. She’d sigh deeply and say the same thing the view from her kitchen window

always inspired her to say: Ay, si yo pudiera volar.6

“Volar” Comprehension Questions

What is the theme of this passage?

Within the brief story, “Volar” by Judith Ortiz Cofer, a family of Puerto Rican beginnings, who are presently foreigners in America all fantasize about how their life would have been if their circumstances were distinctive. Imagining is one of the most prominent experiences life can donate to an individual.

What does the narrator’s transformation in her dream reveal about her?

What does the dream featuring the landlord suggest about the narrator?

How does the conversation about Puerto Rico develop the narrator’s understanding of her parents?

How do the narrator and her mother view flying? Cite evidence from the text to support your answer.

Whoever can get an A or an A+ get 25 points!!! I need help, I have a D.