Liberty by Julia Alvarez Introducing the Selection Literary Skills Focus: Plot: Conflict and Resolution Reading Skills Focus: Analyzing Details Writing

Libertyby Julia Alvarez

Introducing the Selection

Literary Skills Focus: Plot: Conflict and Resolution

Reading Skills Focus: Analyzing Details

Writing Skills Focus: Think as a Reader/Writer

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Liberty Introducing the Selection

Why might a person or a family need to escape from their homeland?

Click on the title to start the video.



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.


Where is the narrator going?

And why must she leave Liberty behind?

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.

[End of Section]

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 may also struggle with an external conflict or outside force.

A character might struggle with an internal conflict to overcome fear or to gain confidence.


As a story winds down, the characters’ problems are resolved in the plot’s resolution.

In a fairy tale…

the clues are explained.

In a mystery…

they all live happily ever after.

In an adventure…

the survivors may be rescued.


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.


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.

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.


The story hints that social conditions do not yet support women in the business world.

Uninterested men sit at a table near a frowning man’s portrait: They may consider women like Grace unimportant or unwelcome.

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.


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]

The details a writer uses in a story can tell you many things.

Liberty Reading Skills Focus: Analyzing Details

Details about a situation can help you understand a character’s thoughts or feelings.

The lights of the Golden Gate Bridge made me smile.

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.


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?


Into Action: As you read, create a chart to record and analyze details in “Liberty.”

[End of Section]

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.

Find It in Your Reading

Liberty Writing Skills Focus: Think as a Reader/Writer

In “Liberty,” Alvarez tells the story through the voice of a young girl struggling to understand the events going on around her.”

Note details in the story that suggest the narrator does not understand everything that is happening.

[End of Section]

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.

Vocabulary

Liberty Vocabulary

admonitions n.: scoldings; warnings.

impression n.: idea; notion.

distracted adj.: not able to concentrate; unfocused.

inconsolable adj.: unable to be comforted; brokenhearted.

resort v.: turn to something when in need.

LibertyVocabulary

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?

Which of the following students appears to be most distracted during class?

LibertyVocabulary

a.

b.

c.

Which of the following students appears to be most distracted during class?

LibertyVocabulary

b.

LibertyVocabulary

Many parents are known for their admonitions—their scoldings or warnings—which they often may

repeat.

“It’s important to earn good grades so you can be successful in the future.”

“Make sure you call me as soon as you get to the game.”

“Just because your friends do something doesn’t mean you should.”

LibertyVocabulary

The basketball coach’s admonition to her players

was to pay attention and learn the plays.

a. They listened carefully.

b. They chatted noisily.

c. They practiced hard.

What did her players probably do to deserve the admonition?

LibertyVocabulary

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.

LibertyVocabulary

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.

LibertyVocabulary

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.

LibertyVocabulary

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.

LibertyVocabulary

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?

LibertyVocabulary

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.

Despite her mother’s attempts to make her feel better, Maria was inconsolable after receiving her test results.

LibertyVocabulary

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.

LibertyVocabulary

Still, her mother didn’t give in.

Why might Susan have felt the need to turn to pouting to get what she wanted?

Because she wasn’t getting what she wanted, Susan resorted to pouting.

LibertyVocabulary

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.

LibertyVocabulary

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

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Liberty by Julia Alvarez Introducing the Selection Literary Skills Focus: Plot: Conflict and Resolution Reading Skills Focus: Analyzing Details Writing