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178 Unit 2 ■ Analyzing Comparisons and Representations Sofia T. Romero ■ Cloud Nine 179 UNIT 2

• • • • • • 19 Cloud Two, I said softly. Cloud Three. 385 legs, the swing going higher and higher. I 19 REPETITION Like at the beginning of the text,
Cloud Two, I said softly. Cloud Three.
s, the swing going higher and higher. I
Cloud Four. Cloud Five. Cloud Six.
could feel the mist wrapping around me,
While we are driving home, I told Mami At dinner, Mami and Papi were fighting Cloud Four. Cloud Five. Cloud Six. 20 could feel the mist wrapping around me, IDEAS IN LITERATURE Lourdes finds escape from the tension in her life
Cloud Seven. Cloud Eight.
bathing my arms and my legs, my face.
what I told Mrs. Phillips while I was waiting again, but this time they were fighting about Cloud Seven. Cloud Eight. bathing my arms and my legs, my face. by swinging as powerfully as she can, steadily
When I opened my eyes, I couldn’t see
300 to be picked up. How Mrs. Phillips asked me me. You won’t believe what Luli did today, The wind swept my hair, forward and When I opened my eyes, I couldn’t see counting up to Cloud Nine, hoping to feel peace
inches in front of me from the fog, chilling
how everything was going, in a voice that 340 she said to him, putting dinner on the table. 380 then backward. When it blew back, I inches in front of me from the fog, chilling of mind, belonging, fulfillment, affection, and
and damp. I opened my mouth, tasted the
was warm and made me want to tell her My father started to eat while Mami got imagined I was a princess, my long hair 390 and damp. I opened my mouth, tasted the safety.
cool cotton.
everything. dinner together for the rest of us, her and me blowing over my face, and my swing was my cool cotton. 20 TENSION Given the ambiguity of the
I had arrived. I was sure of it. Cloud Nine.
I told Mami what I told Mrs. Phillips, how and Mateo. horse and we were running away. I had 17 I had arrived. I was sure of it. Cloud Nine. description, the Cloud Nine that Lourdes arrives
Copyright (c) 2023 Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. Uncorrected proofs were used with this sample chapter.
I waited for the happiness to come.
305 when I told her that when I came downstairs She told the teacher about what dollars in my pocket. I kept pumping my I waited for the happiness to come. at may be immaterial or even beyond death. It’s
on Saturday, Papi was holding Mami by the 345 happened yesterday, she says. How do you also possible to interpret this as Lourdes literally
wrist at the top of the steps that led out of like that? is enveloped in a fog/cloud and finds release
the house. How she was turning away from My father had no expression, but I could from an imaginary state of being during the rush
Distributed by Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. Strictly for use with its products. Not for redistribution.
him, pulling away from him, and finally he tell he was getting mad by the way his neck of the physical activity in swinging.
310 let go of her and how she fell. How they told was turning red.
me to get out. How he pushed her away, how 350 I slid to the floor so that Papi wouldn’t see
she fell, stumbled down the few steps to the me. If he did, he might pinch my nalga,
bottom. twisting my skin between my fingers so that SUGGESTED ANSWERS
TO THE QUESTIONS
My mother’s black eyebrows were jagged it really hurt. Or he might make me kneel in
315 on her face. Her mouth was like a bruise, the corner for a long time. Maybe fifteen Swing Life Away II by Nicole Roggeman 1. Lourdes’s identity as a child of Puerto Rican
angry and hard. She could see me in the 355 minutes, maybe thirty minutes. Really kneel- is an oil painting of two best friends immigrants and her experiences with students
rearview mirror. I looked out the side win- ing, like in church, without my bum resting swinging as high as they can. and school staff influence her desire to
dow, as though she couldn’t see me if I on my feet. If he caught me resting my bum escape. By contrast, even as a child, Susie
couldn’t see her. on my feet, he would give me another fifteen Do you remember swinging on a swing understands that race and economic status
320 She was already annoyed she had to pick minutes, with my back to the clock, with no as an escape that you shared with child- impact social standing, and she follows suit
hood friends? How did swinging feel?
me up. She said I didn’t even look sick. Luli, 360 way to tell what time it was except for when © Nicole Roggeman Why do you think children find such joy by enacting those unspoken guidelines when
why would you tell her that, she asked, the clock boinged at the end of each fifteen in swinging as high as they can? playing with the other girls on the playground.
finally. minutes. Mami urges Lourdes to not speak of the
I don’t know, I said. She asked. I kept expecting someone to say some- abuse happening within the home because
325 She was angry. She was silent. We don’t thing but now my parents were fighting about of a cultural and social belief that whatever
happens within one’s home is one’s own
talk about that, she said, finally. It’s private. 365 what happened yesterday. Papi put his fork CHARACTER business and is not to be made public; Mami
But she asked, I said. She asked how and knife down, stopped eating his dinner. may also fear repercussions from Papi if the
everything was going at home. I slipped out the door, into the backyard. 1. Explain how background, history, and culture motivate the characters’ actions. school or law enforcement gets involved in
But nada, Mami said. It’s private. I could hear their voices, her high-pitched 2. How do Lourdes and Christina’s actions together reveal their shared experience? their home life.
330 We were quiet in the car after that. Before one getting higher and higher, his low- 2. Lourdes and Christina are both children of
we got home, I said, I wish you didn’t give 370 pitched one getting louder and louder. STRUCTURE immigrants and both experience discrimination
me such a dumb name, I wish you named In the backyard, the light was still grey, 3. “Cloud Nine” begins and concludes in a similar setting and situation. What is and microaggressions by students and school
me something else. I could just make out the outline of the different at the end of the story? How does the contrast contribute to your staff alike. Moreover, both individuals attempt
Oh? said Mami. swingset. From inside the house, a door interpretation of the text? to make themselves smaller or less noticeable
335 Yeah, something like Beth . . . or Amy . . . slammed. I sat down on the swing and 4. What is the tension between Lourdes and Susie? How do the details of the text as a response to how they are treated.
I said. Lourdes is a stupid name. 375 started to pump my legs. reveal this tension? Does the story ultimately resolve it? Explain. 3. At the beginning and end of the text, Lourdes
attempts to experience joy and freedom by
swinging as high as she can. By the end of the
text, Lourdes so desperately wants release
from what feels like an inescapably bleak life
at home and school that she’s willing to run
away; without Christina, Lourdes is alone
in her pursuit of Cloud Nine, and while she
believes that Cloud Nine is a real place, its
description is vague enough that it may be
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COMPREHENSION CHECK interpreted as the bliss of an imaginary world
or even an afterlife.
1. Lourdes and her family are from __________. [Puerto Rico] 4. Susie sees Lourdes as someone who is unfit to
2. Christina and Lourdes count up to Cloud Nine by doing what activity? [Swinging] play a certain lead character because Lourdes
3. Lourdes speaks with what named imaginary cartoon character? [Bambi] looks different from Susie and the other white
4. Why does Lourdes leave school after visiting Mrs. Phillips? [Lourdes complains of a stomach- girls. Susie also does not call Lourdes or
ache and Mrs. Phillips calls home to see if Lourdes can be taken home.] Christina by their actual names, which upsets
5. What show is Lourdes not allowed to watch at home (although she wants to)? [The Brady them both. The tension is unresolved by the
Bunch] end of the text, but readers may assume that
Susie and the other kids at school will continue
to bully Lourdes and Christina.
TRM Unit 2: Comprehension Check Digital Comprehension Check

Sofia T. Romero Cloud Nine 179

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