Ha vows to be the first to witness or observe, the ripening of the papaya fruit. What does the word vows mean in this context? Where else did we read that Ha wanted to be the first at something instead of her oldest brother?

i think it's either 'to expose the corruption of the communists in russia', or 'to criticize animal brutality by communists in russia.'  

hope this ! : )

one context clue that me find the meaning of luxuriance was that the base word of luxuriance is luxury, so i think that luxuriance means something that is luxury, or something luxurious.

the meaning of the word broods in verb form is a family of animals used in section 2