The evidence in the story which says that, "My mother once said that I’d be amazed at how many things a person can do within the act of falling. Perhaps, at the time, she was teaching me to dive off a board at the town pool, for I associated the idea with midair somersaults. But I also think she meant that even in that awful doomed second one could think, for she certainly did."

"I know that she’s right. I knew it even then. As you fall, there is time to think. Curled as I was, against her stomach, I was not startled by the cries of the crowd or the looming faces" - Doing this part of the story the writer uses a comma to cause the reader to pause. This shows the effect of an important part that the author wants the reader to slow down when reading.

In the text she says, "I know that she’s right. I knew it even then. As you fall, there is time to think. Curled as I was, against her stomach, I was not startled by the cries of the crowd or the looming faces. The wind roared and beat its hot breath at our back, the flames whistled. I slowly wondered what would happen if we missed the circle or bounced out of it" - She tells us her emotion of how shes feeling, due to the first person point of view.

"I was still embarrassed as we flew out the window, toward earth, me in her lap, her toes pointed as we skimmed toward the painted target of the fire fighter’s net.

I know that she’s right. I knew it even then. As you fall, there is time to think. Curled as I was, against her stomach, I was not startled by the cries of the crowd or the looming faces" This shows how her mother was strong through physical courage and she was strong through mental courage.

This is support by statements in the book which are, "The world fades when you are under, & the ocean murmurs stay stay stay." and "It's been seventy-two hours, & I go to school on Monday even though Tia tells me I should stay home. I want normal. But my teachers do not ask for homework, do not ask me questions."

This is supported in the text with these statements, ""I try not to suffocate under all the eyes that seem to be expecting me to tear myself out of my skin" and "I lift my mouth to the cigar. inhale. hold the smoke hard in my lungs until the pain squeezes sharp in my chest"

The figurative language that she is using shows us how much when she is swimming she forgets about what's going on in real life. Her swimming is almost just like therapy for her.

Palestinians don't hate Jews they hate occupies. They would hate anybody that would kill and steal their land.

The figurative language helps us to understand how important Camino's father was to her. When she says that, "when his flight rose into the sky he took all the earth with him" it help to better understand that she felt like there was no belonging for her to live anymore.