Dreams vs. Reality: Judith Ortiz Cofer’s “Volar”
“Volar” is a short story about a family of immigrants written by Judith Ortiz Cofer. The father is a business man who came to America seeking the American dream for his wife and daughter. According to Jennifer L. Hochschild, “The idea of the American dream has been attached to everything from religious freedom to a home in the suburbs… a world where anything can happen and good things might” (Hochschild 15). The little girl from Judith Ortiz Cofer’s “Volar” has the typical American dream that she will never be able to achieve due to her circumstances.
When many people picture the typical American dream, they envision the concrete part first. They probably envision a family with two kids, a daughter and a son, who live in a nice house in a neighborhood with a white, picket fence around it. The father is a business man, and the mother may be a teacher or secretary, or even a stay-at-home mom. The family owns at least two cars, enjoys cook outs, and goes on vacation every summer. There is also an abstract part to the ideal American life. This includes freedoms such as religious freedom, freedom of the press, and freedom of speech. It includes independence, liberty, justice, respect, honesty, and all other characteristics of upright citizens. Most people, including the little girl in “Volar”, make this dream a priority and believe that achieving it will make them satisfied.
The little girl has both concrete and abstract dreams that align with the American dream. The most concrete dreams are of physical appearance. The little girl loves reading a comic book called Supergirl and has a dream that she, “…had long blond hair and could fly” (Par. 1). In her dream, she would transform into what she sees as a beautiful girl who has hard arms, long legs, large breasts, and straight, golden hair. The little girl is Hispanic so she has dark hair and skin, yet just the opposite seems to be the little girl’s picture of a perfect girl, who she longs to be. However, she can obviously not change her physical appearance to be the ideal beautiful image that is portrayed so often. Every morning, she awakens to find herself back in her bedroom in her own body, “…my tight curls still clinging to my head, skinny arms and legs and flat chest unchanged”.
One cannot help but wonder how this precious little girl began believing that she needed to look like someone else. Was it the media? Friends? Even her parents? Does she desire to just fit in, or is there more to her dream of physical beauty? The best guess is that she is not confident in herself. She does not feel like she is beautiful the way she is, and therefore, wishes to be someone else. She may stick out at school and be made fun of, her parents may not make her feel loved and beautiful, or she may just feel out of place living in a country that is not her own. Any way you put it; there is some reason behind this little girl dreaming of being another person with different physical characteristics she sees as ideal.
On the other hand, the little girl also has a dream of having plenty of money. This can be considered concrete because money is an object, but it can also be considered abstract because the idea of wealth is more abstract. As a superhero in the little girl’s dreams, she often visits different people who are of interest to her. The one that stood out to me was the landlord that she visits. The little girl seems to not like him because of her parents and plays a trick by blowing down his chimney and scattering his money causing him to have to count it from the beginning again. The way the little girl describes the 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” makes it clear that she listens to her parents and is in tune with what happens financially (Par. 1).
As if knowing about the landlord is not enough for this little girl, she also realized just how small the apartment they live in is. When recalling how she wakes up disappointed from her superhero dreams, she describes her room as, “...in my tiny bedroom with the incongruous – at least in our tiny apartment – white “princess” furniture my mother had chosen for me…” (Par. 1). She is fully aware of how small the space they live in is. To paint more of a picture of what the family’s living conditions are, she later describes the view from their kitchen window as, “…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” (Par. 2). Finally, a little later when the mother is asking the father if they can travel to Puerto Rico to visit her family, he says they cannot because it costs too much to fly there. Clearly, money is a big issue for this family of immigrants, and they have not been able to keep it from their little girl.
This little girl will never be wealthy because of how she has grown up. She is an immigrant from Puerto Rico who seems to be living in a neighborhood with a lot of other immigrants (Par. 1). Her parents do not make a lot of money, so she is likely not getting a very good education and will probably not go to college. According to Jessica Shepherd, “A study of 11,000 seven-year-old children found that those with parents in professional and managerial jobs were at least eight months ahead of pupils from the most socially disadvantaged homes, where parents were often unemployed” (Shepherd). Unfortunately, this quote shows how much of an impact social and economic class has on children and how children generally follow in their parents footsteps. Unless the parents of this little girl are very motivating and push her to go on to college to be able to get a good job, she will not be successful financially. She will be sucked into the never-ending cycle of poverty, or close to it.
The third and final dream of hers that must be addressed is her dream to fly. Volar is the title of the short story and has a few different meanings woven throughout the short story. In the little girl’s dreams, she is quite literally flying. After the father tells the mother they are not able to visit Puerto Rico, she says, “Ay, si yo pudiera volar” (Par. 2). This translates to “Oh, if only I could fly”. This can be taken literally as if the mother wishes they could fly to Puerto Rico to visit her family. However, it seems that it can also be thought of in an abstract way as if the little girl and the mother both wish for a way out of the world they are living in. Flying is both the fastest way to leave anywhere and get somewhere new and one of the best feelings of complete freedom. The symbol of wishing they could fly seems mean looking for the fastest way to leave the hard life they are living now and enter into a better one. They want to escape and be free which is ironic because they likely immigrated to America in search of more freedom. In the concrete sense, the little girl will never be able to achieve this dream because she will never physically be able to fly like a superhero. Also in the more abstract sense of the flying symbol, the little girl will never be able to free herself from the bonds of the life she is living now.
In conclusion, the three main dreams the little girl has that correspond to the American dream are being a beautiful girl, having lots of money, and having freedom. Although this little girl is living in America, she will never be able to achieve these dreams because of her circumstances.
Works Cited
Cofer, Judith Ortiz. “Volar.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. Ed. Kelly J. Mays. New York: W. W. Norton& Company, Inc., 2013. 277-279. Print.
Hochschild, Jennifer L. Facing Up to the American Dream: Race, Class, and the Soul of the Nation. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995. Print.
Shepherd, Jessica. "Social Class Has More Effect on Children than Good Parenting, Study Finds." Theguardian.com. Guardian News and Media, 07 Dec. 2010. Web. 26 Apr. 2014. http://www.theguardian.com/education/2010/dec/07/social-class-parenting-study.
More like Supergirl. N.d. DeviantART. Web. 26 Apr. 2014. <http://www.deviantart.com/morelikethis/artists/365651875?view_mode=2>.
When many people picture the typical American dream, they envision the concrete part first. They probably envision a family with two kids, a daughter and a son, who live in a nice house in a neighborhood with a white, picket fence around it. The father is a business man, and the mother may be a teacher or secretary, or even a stay-at-home mom. The family owns at least two cars, enjoys cook outs, and goes on vacation every summer. There is also an abstract part to the ideal American life. This includes freedoms such as religious freedom, freedom of the press, and freedom of speech. It includes independence, liberty, justice, respect, honesty, and all other characteristics of upright citizens. Most people, including the little girl in “Volar”, make this dream a priority and believe that achieving it will make them satisfied.
The little girl has both concrete and abstract dreams that align with the American dream. The most concrete dreams are of physical appearance. The little girl loves reading a comic book called Supergirl and has a dream that she, “…had long blond hair and could fly” (Par. 1). In her dream, she would transform into what she sees as a beautiful girl who has hard arms, long legs, large breasts, and straight, golden hair. The little girl is Hispanic so she has dark hair and skin, yet just the opposite seems to be the little girl’s picture of a perfect girl, who she longs to be. However, she can obviously not change her physical appearance to be the ideal beautiful image that is portrayed so often. Every morning, she awakens to find herself back in her bedroom in her own body, “…my tight curls still clinging to my head, skinny arms and legs and flat chest unchanged”.
One cannot help but wonder how this precious little girl began believing that she needed to look like someone else. Was it the media? Friends? Even her parents? Does she desire to just fit in, or is there more to her dream of physical beauty? The best guess is that she is not confident in herself. She does not feel like she is beautiful the way she is, and therefore, wishes to be someone else. She may stick out at school and be made fun of, her parents may not make her feel loved and beautiful, or she may just feel out of place living in a country that is not her own. Any way you put it; there is some reason behind this little girl dreaming of being another person with different physical characteristics she sees as ideal.
On the other hand, the little girl also has a dream of having plenty of money. This can be considered concrete because money is an object, but it can also be considered abstract because the idea of wealth is more abstract. As a superhero in the little girl’s dreams, she often visits different people who are of interest to her. The one that stood out to me was the landlord that she visits. The little girl seems to not like him because of her parents and plays a trick by blowing down his chimney and scattering his money causing him to have to count it from the beginning again. The way the little girl describes the 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” makes it clear that she listens to her parents and is in tune with what happens financially (Par. 1).
As if knowing about the landlord is not enough for this little girl, she also realized just how small the apartment they live in is. When recalling how she wakes up disappointed from her superhero dreams, she describes her room as, “...in my tiny bedroom with the incongruous – at least in our tiny apartment – white “princess” furniture my mother had chosen for me…” (Par. 1). She is fully aware of how small the space they live in is. To paint more of a picture of what the family’s living conditions are, she later describes the view from their kitchen window as, “…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” (Par. 2). Finally, a little later when the mother is asking the father if they can travel to Puerto Rico to visit her family, he says they cannot because it costs too much to fly there. Clearly, money is a big issue for this family of immigrants, and they have not been able to keep it from their little girl.
This little girl will never be wealthy because of how she has grown up. She is an immigrant from Puerto Rico who seems to be living in a neighborhood with a lot of other immigrants (Par. 1). Her parents do not make a lot of money, so she is likely not getting a very good education and will probably not go to college. According to Jessica Shepherd, “A study of 11,000 seven-year-old children found that those with parents in professional and managerial jobs were at least eight months ahead of pupils from the most socially disadvantaged homes, where parents were often unemployed” (Shepherd). Unfortunately, this quote shows how much of an impact social and economic class has on children and how children generally follow in their parents footsteps. Unless the parents of this little girl are very motivating and push her to go on to college to be able to get a good job, she will not be successful financially. She will be sucked into the never-ending cycle of poverty, or close to it.
The third and final dream of hers that must be addressed is her dream to fly. Volar is the title of the short story and has a few different meanings woven throughout the short story. In the little girl’s dreams, she is quite literally flying. After the father tells the mother they are not able to visit Puerto Rico, she says, “Ay, si yo pudiera volar” (Par. 2). This translates to “Oh, if only I could fly”. This can be taken literally as if the mother wishes they could fly to Puerto Rico to visit her family. However, it seems that it can also be thought of in an abstract way as if the little girl and the mother both wish for a way out of the world they are living in. Flying is both the fastest way to leave anywhere and get somewhere new and one of the best feelings of complete freedom. The symbol of wishing they could fly seems mean looking for the fastest way to leave the hard life they are living now and enter into a better one. They want to escape and be free which is ironic because they likely immigrated to America in search of more freedom. In the concrete sense, the little girl will never be able to achieve this dream because she will never physically be able to fly like a superhero. Also in the more abstract sense of the flying symbol, the little girl will never be able to free herself from the bonds of the life she is living now.
In conclusion, the three main dreams the little girl has that correspond to the American dream are being a beautiful girl, having lots of money, and having freedom. Although this little girl is living in America, she will never be able to achieve these dreams because of her circumstances.
Works Cited
Cofer, Judith Ortiz. “Volar.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. Ed. Kelly J. Mays. New York: W. W. Norton& Company, Inc., 2013. 277-279. Print.
Hochschild, Jennifer L. Facing Up to the American Dream: Race, Class, and the Soul of the Nation. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995. Print.
Shepherd, Jessica. "Social Class Has More Effect on Children than Good Parenting, Study Finds." Theguardian.com. Guardian News and Media, 07 Dec. 2010. Web. 26 Apr. 2014. http://www.theguardian.com/education/2010/dec/07/social-class-parenting-study.
More like Supergirl. N.d. DeviantART. Web. 26 Apr. 2014. <http://www.deviantart.com/morelikethis/artists/365651875?view_mode=2>.