Liberty
by Julia Alvarez
Feature Menu
Introducing the Selection
Literary Skills Focus: Plot:
Conflict and Resolution
Reading Skills Focus: Analyzing
Details
Writing Skills Focus: Think as a
Reader/Writer
Liberty
Introducing the Selection
Why might a person or a family
need to escape from their homeland?
Liberty
Introducing the Selection
Click on the title to start the video.
Liberty
Introducing the Selection
When a family gets a new dog, the playful puppy
creates tension. The narrator adores the puppy, but
it annoys her mother.
Still, a bratty puppy
is nothing compared
to the big change
the narrator and her
family will soon
experience.
Liberty
Introducing the Selection
When the narrator is forced to abandon her home
late one night, she is devastated to learn that she
can’t take the puppy, Liberty, with her.
Where is the narrator
going?
And why must she
leave Liberty behind?
[End of Section]
Liberty
Literary Skills Focus: Plot: Conflict and Resolution
A conflict is a struggle.
Two characters
sometimes oppose
each other.
One character
might struggle
against a whole
group.
Liberty
Literary Skills Focus: Plot: Conflict and Resolution
A conflict can exist inside a character.
A character might
struggle with an
internal conflict to
overcome fear or to
gain confidence.
A character may also
struggle with an
external conflict or
outside force.
Liberty
Literary Skills Focus: Plot: Conflict and Resolution
As a story winds down, the characters’ problems
are resolved in the plot’s resolution.
In a mystery…
the clues are
explained.
In a fairy tale…
they all live
happily ever
after.
In an adventure…
the survivors may
be rescued.
Liberty
Literary Skills Focus: Plot: Conflict and Resolution
Sometimes a story’s characters may struggle
against the societal expectations revealed in the
story, igniting conflicts for those characters.
As was the case for most
young women in her town,
Erin was expected to join
the tennis team. Instead,
she fought to become the
first woman on her high
school’s football team.
Liberty
Literary Skills Focus: Plot: Conflict and Resolution
In the following passage, what social and historical
conflicts are revealed by the story?
Grace pressed her hands on the
boardroom table and braced herself. She
was the only woman in the room.
A portrait of the company’s first president
seemed to frown at her. Some of the men
seated at the table rolled their eyes, while
others doodled on their notepads.
Grace cleared her throat and began her
presentation. I’ll prove them wrong, she
thought. I’m a mother and a professional.
Liberty
Literary Skills Focus: Plot: Conflict and Resolution
Uninterested men sit at a table near a frowning
man’s portrait: They may consider women like
Grace unimportant or unwelcome.
The story hints that social conditions do not yet
support women in the business world.
What conflicts might the
situation create for Grace?
• She might struggle to
overcome biases against her.
• She might fight temptations to
back down and quit.
Liberty
Literary Skills Focus: Plot: Conflict and Resolution
Read, then listen to, the following passage from
“Liberty.”
The American consul wanted to thank us for all
we’d done for him since he’d been assigned to our
country. “If he wanted to thank us, he’d give us
our visas,” Mami grumbled. For a while now, my
parents had been talking about going to the United
States so Papi could return to school.
How does the situation spark conflict? What do you
think the resolution will be?
[End of Section]
Liberty
Reading Skills Focus: Analyzing Details
The details a writer uses in a story can tell you
many things.
Details about a situation can
help you understand
a character’s
thoughts or
feelings.
The lights of
the Golden
Gate Bridge
made me smile.
Liberty
Reading Skills Focus: Analyzing Details
The details a writer uses in a story can tell you
many things.
Details about a character’s
thoughts or feelings
help you understand
the conflict.
The doctor has
struggled against
his fear of giving
bad news.
Liberty
Reading Skills Focus: Analyzing Details
The details a writer uses in a story can tell you
many things. Read this passage from “Liberty.”
The image of the two men in mirror glasses
flashed through my head. So as not to think
about them, I put my arm around Liberty and
buried my face in his neck.
What details does the author use to tell you how
the narrator feels?
Liberty
Reading Skills Focus: Analyzing Details
Into Action: As you read, create a chart to record
and analyze details in “Liberty.”
Into Action: Details
Detail
What It Tells Me
Papi and Mami look scared
when talking about leaving
their country.
The situation is dangerous; they
are worried about what might
happen.
Mami would rather have visas
than a puppy.
[End of Section]
Liberty
Writing Skills Focus: Think as a Reader/Writer
Find It in Your Reading
In “Liberty,” Alvarez tells the story through the
voice of a young girl struggling to understand the
events going on around her.”
He ate all of Mami’s orchids, and that little hyperactive baton of a
tail knocked things off the low coffee table whenever Liberty
climbed on the couch to leave his footprints in among the flower
prints. He tore up Mami’s garden looking for buried treasure.
Mami screamed at Liberty and stamped her foot. “Perro sin
vergüenza!” But Liberty just barked back at her.
Note details in the story that suggest the narrator
does not understand everything that is happening.
[End of Section]
Vocabulary
Liberty
Vocabulary
distracted adj.: not able to concentrate;
unfocused.
admonitions n.: scoldings; warnings.
impression n.: idea; notion.
inconsolable adj.: unable to be comforted;
brokenhearted.
resort v.: turn to something when in need.
Liberty
Vocabulary
When your friend is distracted, you may have
trouble getting her attention because she is not
focusing on you.
How do you get
your friend’s
attention when
she’s distracted?
Liberty
Vocabulary
Which of the following students appears to be most
distracted during class?
b.
a.
c.
Liberty
Vocabulary
Which of the following students appears to be most
distracted during class?
b.
Liberty
Vocabulary
Many parents are known for their admonitions—
their scoldings or warnings—which they often may
repeat.
“Just because your
friends do
something doesn’t
mean you should.”
“Make sure you call
me as soon as you
get to the game.”
“It’s important to
earn good grades
so you can be
successful in the
future.”
Liberty
Vocabulary
The basketball coach’s admonition to her players
was to pay attention and learn the plays.
What did her players probably do
to deserve the admonition?
a. They listened carefully.
b. They chatted noisily.
c. They practiced hard.
Liberty
Vocabulary
The basketball coach’s admonition to her players
was to pay attention and learn the plays.
What did her players probably do
to deserve the admonition?
a. They listened carefully.
b.They chatted noisily.
c. They practiced hard.
Liberty
Vocabulary
When you get an impression of someone, you get
an idea of what he or she is like.
First impressions, however, don’t always show all
sides of a person.
Liberty
Vocabulary
Marcus got the impression that his friends were
avoiding him. What happened that gave Marcus
this idea?
a. They didn’t answer his
phone calls.
b. They smiled as he
approached their lockers.
c. They invited him to play
football.
Liberty
Vocabulary
Marcus got the impression that his friends were
avoiding him. What happened that gave Marcus
this idea?
a.They didn’t answer his
phone calls.
b. They smiled as he
approached their lockers.
c. They invited him to play
football.
Liberty
Vocabulary
No matter what his friends
said to try to comfort him,
Frank was inconsolable
after losing his eight-page
research paper.
He knew he’d have to start
over from the beginning.
How is Frank feeling right
now?
Liberty
Vocabulary
Despite her mother’s attempts to make her feel
better, Maria was inconsolable after receiving her
test results.
How did Maria do on the
test?
a. She scored higher than
she’d hoped.
b. She scored lower than
she’d expected.
c. She scored as well as
she’d planned.
Liberty
Vocabulary
Despite her mother’s attempts to make her feel
better, Maria was inconsolable after receiving her
test results.
How did Maria do on the
test?
a. She scored higher than
she’d hoped.
b.She scored lower than
she’d expected.
c. She scored as well as
she’d planned.
Liberty
Vocabulary
Because she wasn’t getting what she wanted, Susan
resorted to pouting.
Still, her mother didn’t
give in.
Why might Susan have
felt the need to turn to
pouting to get what she
wanted?
Liberty
Vocabulary
When Grandma realized that the restaurant was out
of salad, she resorted to ordering chicken.
Grandma probably
a. was a little
disappointed.
b. felt relieved.
c. didn’t care either way.
Liberty
Vocabulary
When Grandma realized that the restaurant was out
of salad, she resorted to ordering chicken.
Grandma probably
a.was a little
disappointed.
b. felt relieved.
c. didn’t care either way.
The End