the flowers rough draft

The homeless man said “what the hell” (145). As he looked in his sack, a glass bottle inside broken, wetting the cement. Sonny instantly goes from fight to flight ready to take down any obstacle in his way. Some people say Sonny bullied the homeless man, other people might say he did the right thing by knocking him out but at the end of the day is Sonny’s reason for the stealing the old man’s wallet justifiable? In the novel The Flowers by Dagoberto Gilb the true answer will be clear and evident. I am writing this paper from the reader response perspective because as I was reading the novel I connected with Sonny and his experiences.

   Sonny is a young boy with serious anger issues that could hurt him big time as he gets older, for example he steals whenever he’s mad when really that’s not the way to react, because behavior of that sort could lead him to prison or possibly to an early death. Sonny has hatred against his step-father Cloyd, who is a Racist and alcoholic. Ultimately Sonny does not trust Cloyd along with many other people, however Sonny does spend lots of time with Pinkston and they become good friends. Both Pinkston and Sonny dislike Cloyd very much because of his racist ways, therefore team up and make sure Cloyd doesn’t disrespect Pinkston in any way possible. The main reason why Cloyd and Sonny don’t get along is because Sylvia is always out and about either shopping or “smelling of cocktails and cigarettes.” Honestly if all three of them spent more time together their relationship and friendship would function much better. The family doesn’t spend enough quality time, therefore causing them to go their separate ways by either drinking alcohol or hanging out in other places other than their own home.

   Sonny’s life would be completely different if more people showed affection towards him. In the novel there were only a couple people who genuinely cared for Sonny: Sylvia, Nica, and Pinkston were the core three whom cared about Sonny. Sonny’s mother Sylvia was a caring mother but had too many things going on at once, for example she would always end her conversations with Sonny abruptly if she remembered of something else more important she had to attend too. Sonny would notice the changes his mother was going through, for one she never talked to Sonny like she used to back at their old home, and ever since they both moved in with Cloyd she wouldn’t yell at him either. Was she in love with Cloyd, or was she too busy looking for a new man to pamper her?

   Sonny fell in love with the girl named Nica; she also lived in the Los Flores apartment complex. At first she started off quiet and shy, but eventually opens up and falls in love with Sonny as well, as she stated in the book “I wish you would go with me, because I love you Sonny” (249). Right before she got on the bus to go to Mexico she expressed her feelings to Sonny with hopes that he would change his mind and travel with her, but Sonny had other plans. I was extremely shocked when Sonny gave Nica all of the money he took from Cloyd, never expected him to do something so selfless. As soon as Sonny gave away the money my perspective of Sonny completely changed because it showed he had matured into a young adult.   

   Goofy was the name of Sonny’s beloved dog, best friend, and companion. Sadly he was given away to Cloyds son whom coincidentally is a taxidermist and has stuffed many of the animals Cloyd has hung on the wall. After Sylvia didn’t make Cloyd bring Goofy to live at the house with them, Sonny realizes it’s him against the world.

   Along with not being loved, Sonny doesn’t have the best influences around him a majority of the time and they tend to affect him negatively. For example, Ever since Sonny met Cindy he started smoking marijuana, drinking wine, and even had sex a few times. Cloyd was also a negative influence on Sonny because he was always drinking heavily around him, and became more and more vulgar as time passed. The Albino man Pinkston was one of Sonny’s friends he could genuinely talk too. Sonny trusted Pink in a weird sort of way but they were always having good talks and would always seem to end awkwardly. Back then no one had really heard about Albino individuals almost as if they were a rare species. Pink gave Sonny a Bel Air in return for a favor, for Sonny to keep his ears open just in case Cloyd said anything negative about Pink. Pink and Sonny have a good friendship because they both don’t like Cloyd very much, as Pink stated “Blue-eyed devil wanna kill him some niggerboys, now you listen to me. He gonna use them guns you understand, might not be today or even next week. But he gonna. You be careful” (234). Cloyd would have definitely used his guns if he had an opportunity to do so; he was just biting at the chops, itching to take a shot at someone of a different race. I like the fact that Sonny appears to be completely against racism, when his step-father is a racist. There too is an example of Cloyd having a negative influence on Sonny.  

  Sonny’s lack of love in his life forces him to have a short fuse when it comes to verbal or physical altercations. Defensive right away, wanting to either hit someone or steal something is the way Sonny coped with his anger. Living a life like that could lead to many serious consequences, but can the short fuse and thievery attitude be genetics and run in his family? Or is Sonny in an environment that causes him to act out in such a way that could lead to an early death. At times Sonny liked the attention the twins gave him when he would be telling the stories of his late night sexual encounters with Cindy, or how he would steal the magazines from the mail box, even how he busted the sickies windshield when he crept up on Sonny. The twins look up to Sonny like a rare kind of guy because he does lots of interesting things not many 15 year olds do. I related to Sonny a lot all throughout the book because I have been through some of the same experiences as Sonny. For example, we both got started smoking and drinking the same way, while hanging out with an older girl who was “lonely.” Sonny chose to stop talking to his girl, and my mom forced me to stop talking to mine. So all throughout the novel I compared how my life could’ve been to how it is today, that helped me understand and visualize everything much easier.

  Sonny clearly didn’t like being around a lot of people, he liked to do his own thing rather than being with a group of people. If he did want some company he would have invited the twins to the bowling alley instead of going there alone almost every day, and the twins definitely would’ve gone bowling because it’s not like they would have anything better to do, yet Sonny chose to bowl alone. The Alley cats bowling alley was a crucial place in the novel because that was where Sonny spent a lot of his alone time whenever he wanted to get away from the problems going on in his home. The bowling alley was also the place where some racially motivated attacks took place. The Zuniga’s never did anything wrong and never refused business to anyone, and yet people still chose to break the windows of the alley. The Zuniga’s would be extremely nervous about serving someone of a different color, for example there were two black men looking to get a good meal at the alley one lonely night, but the Zuniga’s were skeptical until Sonny decided to break the ice and help them make the right food choice which was a Mexican cheeseburger.

  Sonnny learned the true meaning of a hard earned dollar when he was working around the apartments making sure Los Flores was always in tip top shape. Although Cloyd would only pay him sometimes, Sonny managed to find Cloyds money stashed in an envelope and decided he wouldn’t fuss about not being paid anymore since he had plenty of money for himself. Stealing the money from right under Cloyds nose was a very ballsy move on Sonny’s part because the chances of getting caught were high, but he managed to take the money without any difficulty.   

 Subsequently, Sonny choosing to alienate himself from the people he is surrounded by played a crucial role in the novel because that was where all the problems originated from. Whenever there was a problem he would choose to alienate himself and spend some time on his own. Sonny’s changes and decision to stay behind at the end of the novel rather than leave with Nica really shows how he matured, and felt the sense of responsibility to stay behind to help his mother. Even when you feel alone in what seems to be a sea of strangers, you are simply presented with an opportunity to make a new life while living in the same place. If I was in Sonny’s shoes I would have done the same thing by helping Nica get away from her father who didn’t appreciate all she did for the family. The novel shows that people come and go but the ones that stick around are worth having.