1. Liberty
by Julia Alvarez
Feature Menu
Introducing the Selection
Literary Focus: Setting and Conflict
Reading Focus: Analyzing Details
Writing Focus: Think as a Reader/Wri
TechFocus

2. Liberty
Introducing the Selection
Why might a person or a family
need to escape from their homeland?

3. Liberty
Introducing the Selection
Click on the title to start the video.

4. 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.

5. 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]

6. Liberty
Literary Focus: Setting and Conflict
A story’s setting is more than a place.
Social and historical conditions also form part of a
story’s setting.

7. Liberty
Literary Focus: Setting and Conflict
A setting’s social and historical conditions may affect
characters’ attitudes about how people should live,
dress, eat, and behave. Those attitudes may lead
characters to
• hold certain
beliefs,
• think certain
thoughts, and
• act in certain
ways.

8. Liberty
Literary Focus: Setting and Conflict
Sometimes a story’s characters may struggle
against the societal expectations revealed in the
setting, 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.

9. Liberty
Literary Focus: Setting and Conflict
In the following passage, what social and historical
conditions are revealed by the setting?
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.

10. Liberty
Literary Focus: Setting and Conflict
Uninterested men sit at a table near a frowning
man’s portrait: They may consider women like
Grace unimportant or unwelcome.
The setting hints that social conditions do not yet
support women in the business world.
What conflicts might the
setting create for Grace?
• She might struggle to
overcome biases against her.
• She might fight temptations to
back down and quit.

11. Liberty
Literary Focus: Setting and Conflict
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.
What can you tell about the setting’s social and
historical conditions? How does the setting spark
conflict?

12. Liberty
Literary Focus: Setting and Conflict
TechFocus
People sometimes take pictures or make videos to
help them remember special places.
As you read, make a list of the things about the
narrator’s home that she might want to remember.
[End of Section]

13. Liberty
Reading Focus: Analyzing Details
The details a writer uses in a story can tell you
many things.
Details about time and place
help create setting.
Outside in San
Francisco, CA,
at night

14. Liberty
Reading 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
conflict.
The doctor has
struggled against
his fear of giving
bad news.

15. Liberty
Reading 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?

16. Liberty
Reading Focus: Analyzing Details
Into Action: Use 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.
[End of Section]

17. Liberty
Writing Focus: Think as a Reader/Writer
Find It in Your Reading
In “Liberty,” Alvarez uses her powers of description
to bring the narrator’s dog to life. Read, then listen,
to this passage from “Liberty.”
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
verguenza!” But Liberty just barked back at her.
How would you describe the dog, Liberty? What
details in the passage led you to your description?
[End of Section]

18. Vocabulary

19. Liberty
Vocabulary
elect v.: choose as a course of action.
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.

20. Liberty
Vocabulary
The word elect is found in the word election.
An election allows people
to choose the candidate
they want to put in
office.
Sometimes, people vote
on a particular question,
electing a specific
course of action.
What kind of elections take place at school?

21. Liberty
Vocabulary
After talking to her guidance counselor, Tanya
elected to apply to college.
Which did Tanya’s guidance counselor likely say?
a. “You’re really not prepared for
college.”
b. “You should consider taking
some time off before applying
to college.”
c. “You’ve worked very hard. You
should apply to several
schools.”

22. Liberty
Vocabulary
After talking to her guidance counselor, Tanya
elected to apply to college.
Which did Tanya’s guidance counselor likely say?
a. “You’re really not prepared for
college.”
b. “You should consider taking
some time off before applying
to college.”
c. “You’ve worked very hard. You
should apply to several
schools.”

23. 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?

24. Liberty
Vocabulary
Which of the following students appears to be most
distracted during class?
b.
a.
c.

25. Liberty
Vocabulary
Which of the following students appears to be most
distracted during class?
b.

26. 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.”

27. 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.

28. 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.

29. 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.

30. 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.

31. 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.

32. 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?

33. 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.

34. 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.

35. 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?

36. 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.

37. 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.

38. The End