The Springboard - Liddy, First to Fly

At the end of "Liddy, First to Fly," the girls go to a landmark in their town called the Springboard, which is a large cliff that juts out over the ocean. Here, Liddy jumps, attempting to use her wings to fly, and the girls are caught by their mothers doing a dangerous activity in a place they are not supposed to be. The author establishes this setting with description that heightens dramatic tension and cause the reader to worry about the girls' safety: "Officially, it'd been cordoned off for the last five years with a stout fence...Every summer, some kid broke their leg or arm...And over the decades, six teenagers had died" (28). The danger inherent in the Springboard represents the heightened danger a girl might face as she moves from childhood to adolescence and begins to attract male attention.

The Mall - Time Cubes