Guided Reading of "Drown": Listing the Events Part 1

In "Drown," we have an unnamed narrator who recounts experiences in two verb tenses. You will note that sometimes he uses the present tense ("My mom tells me Beto's home), and sometimes he uses the past tense ("We were raging then"). So there's a little grammar practice with this reading where we're going to want to pay close attention to verb tenses because our story is happening in two time periods: the narrator's present circumstances and the past he remembers.

Read pages 1-2, stopping at "not even dictionaries." Note the important things that happen, describing them in a sentence or 2 in your own words. If something is happening in the present, just write about it in the present tense. If it's happening in the past, start with "He remembers when/how..." You need to come up with 10 events for this section. 

Example for first paragraph:

1. The narrator's mother lets him know that Beto's home, but he acts like he doesn't care until she goes to sleep and he goes to look for him.

2. He remembers when they were friends two years ago and Beto was like a member of the family.

3. .....


Challenge Paragraph: Note this challenging paragraph when the narrator is at the community pool.

The water feels good. Starting at the deep end I glide over the slick-tiled bottom without kicking up a spume or making a splash. Sometimes another swimmer churns past me, more a disturbance of water than a body. I can still go far without coming up. While everything above is loud and bright, everything below is whispers. And always the risk of coming up to find the cops stabbing their searchlights out across the water. And then everyone running, wet feet slapping against the concrete, yelling, Fuck you, officers, you puto sucios, fuck you.

Do the cops actually appear in this scene? Note that he says "And always the risk of coming up to find the cops." What does that mean?

You can complete your list of ten events and share with us your ideas on the Challenge Paragraph here:

https://forms.gle/AaLGfLAMNBJruEEk9