The short story “Volar” illustrates that to some people, freedom is not always freely given. Judith Ortiz Cofer does this through describing the desires of two characters living in a Spanish-speaking barrio community, a young girl and her mother. Although the two of them want different things, they are tied together by their longing to escape their current circumstances and their coexisting inability to do so. The title carries significant importance in the story. “Volar” is a Spanish verb meaning “to fly.” The idea of flight is visited several times throughout the course of the piece, first with the young girl and then with the mother. The young girl dreams of being Supergirl, powerful and omniscient, confident and focused on “the object of [her] current obsession” (p. 197). The dynamic qualities of her dreams contrast greatly to the dullness of her actual life. She wakes in a “tiny bedroom...in [a] tiny apartment” (p. 197), finding herself in a skinny body that certainly does not resemble Supergirl. …show more content…
Her husband reminds her of the costs of flight for their family to get there. Ironically, airplanes would enable them to actually fly, thus achieving part of their desires. However, as the father of the family describes, “It is not possible” (p. 197) because they do not have the funds. They are confined within a neverending set of boundaries. The story ends with the mother sighing deeply and saying the words, “Ay, si yo pudiera volar,” or “Oh, if only I could fly” (p. 198). The word “fly” here does not necessarily imply flying by airplane as much as it implies flying away from her