Cotton boll Chapter 2: Soledad
1. In the first line, what is "the old jalopy"?
2. How did Francisco have to spend his day? Underline two sentences that express his feelings about this. (page 9)
3. Why did Francisco say, "My heart started racing"? Explain the feeling expressed with these words.
4. A metaphor is a figure of speech that makes an indirect comparison by speaking of something as if it were another. A metaphor does not use the word like or as and can be different parts of speech. Underline the metaphor in this sentence: "I climbed onto the roof of the carcachita again and watched them disapper into the sea of cotton." (11) Why is it such a good metaphor?
5. How did Francisco feel when his parents and Roberto had to go back to work? What metaphor is used to express his feelings?
6. What did Francisco decide to teach himself to do? Two similes depict the difficulty of the work. Underline them. The shells' sharp prongs are compared to and the way the plants sprang back is compared to a .
7. Why did Mamá get angry at Francisco? Why did Papá get angry with him? What two adjectives describe how Francisco felt?
8. Have you ever felt that someone got angry at you when you were only trying to help or when you thought you were doing something good? Explain what happened and how you felt about the situation.
9. What do you think soledad means? Why is it such a good title for this story?
Word Bank: Add at least five new words to your word bank. See directions under the first chapter.