"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.
