Character Description

My original character description of Cloyd was professional and masculine, but at the same time rude, selfish, racist, and controlling over Sonny. I think the only characteristic that has changed here is that no longer a professional, hard working man that is a good step-father to Sonny. At first he pretended to like him and be nice to him only to impress his mom, but now that she is not home as much he drinks more and takes his anger out on Sonny mainly because he is a racist. After reading this part of the book, I noticed that the one thing that obviously has not changed is that Cloyd is a racist. When Silvia asked him why it would be such a bad thing for a black man to live at the Los Flores apartment complex he said, ‘“Damn it, Silvia. You know there’d be hell to pay! You know it! What are you saying? You see one up there?’” (180). Cloyd obviously has a problem with black people living at his apartment complex. By his tone of voice he demonstrates that he is a coward and is scared of black people. I think one of the reasons that Cloyd is a racist and does not want any blacks living at his apartment complex because he has a bad history filled with hurtful, unforgettable memories with them. I would not be surprised that he built up hate for them when he was a child. He could have been bullied by them as a kid and got so fed up with them that he would hate them forever. I believe that this side of Cloyd hating blacks is coming out more and is becoming more clear.

Prediction

One day Sonny decided to go through his step-father Cloyd’s office to steal an envelope full of money. At first Sonny was hesitant to take the money, so he thought he might just count the envelope full of money for fun. However, he felt that he could not do that because he could not resist putting it back in the drawer. Once Sonny committed to stealing the money he said, “I went into the kitchen and grabbed a dish towel and came back and I opened the drawer like an oven and took the envelope” (158). This was very clever and bold of Sonny to do. By covering his hands with a dish towel, Sonny hides the evidence of stealing the envelope because he is not putting his fingerprints on the drawer for Cloyd to be able to do any CSI investigation on him. Now that Sonny has all of this money I think that he is going to stash some of it and use for emergencies. I think that he will use the rest by investing it by giving it to Pink to buy more used cars and sell to customers. After doing that Pink and Sonny will split the profits and leave Sonny with more money than he started out with. If I were Sonny I would keep some of it and use the rest to buy Nica food like pizza and maybe some gifts. I think that she would appreciate that.

Reader Response

After Sonny and Cindy had intercourse Sonny was put in a very uncomfortable situation. He was worried that Cindy’s husband Tino was going to come home from work and catch them in bed. As Sonny rushed to get dressed Cindy kept begging him to stay and keep her company. She said, “I don’t want to be alone,…You don’t know how much I hate being myself, I can’t.” (125) Sonny is feeling pressured to stay because Cindy is lonely, does not have any friends, and her husband is at work most of the time. I could not imagine being in Sonny’s shoes here. I do not think that I could just do it with a woman that I barely knew let alone a married woman. Just the thought of sleeping with a married woman while her husband is off to work makes me feel sick. If only Tino was there to catch them in the act would have made things interesting. When I read this part of the book I could not help but picture their intimate moment; touching, kissing, and possibly Cindy talking dirty to Sonny. This scene really shows how Cindy is a desperate, lonely, insecure, and sad young lady. She has nothing going for her in her life except for when Sonny pays her an occasional visit. I think that she wants to divorce Tino and marry and be with Sonny. It seems like she would be a lot happier.  

Car Salesman

The relationship between Pink the car salesman and Sonny plays a large role in this novel.  As Pink deals used cars, Sonny’s stepfather Cloyd gets more and more suspicious of him. Pink has a reputation for selling cars to black people, which agitates Cloyd because he is a racist. In order to keep Cloyd of his back, Pink convinces Sonny to make a deal with him and become “Partners.”  Since Sonny does not like his stepfather, he agrees to do Pink a favor when he says, “Talk to me when I need you to. Understand’?…  I got a question, you got an answer. We be partnered up, see? You inside knowing what’s going on is all. Understand?’” (139) If Sonny keeps his end of the bargain, then Pink is offering him a Bel Aire  as his first car. I think that Sonny and Pink are going to get along really well. They both do not care for Cloyd and will do whatever it takes to work as a team to keep Cloyd out of their business and lives. Their partnership will really benefit each other. When they need one another’s help they can provide it. Sonny can help Pink by listening in on Cloyd’s conversations about Pink and be able to inform him about what he is saying. Pink on the other hand is giving Sonny a car and I believe that he can protect Sonny when Cloyd continues to verbally harass Sonny when he is drunk. I think that Sonny and Pink are going to become really good friends.  

Free Writing

My Father always... has been there for me. He has also always made me happy by buying me whatever I wanted, which usually is not always a lot, and always has been someone I could talk to. He has always given me good advice throughout my life. He has helped me succeed as an individual and has been a part of my life during the good and bad times. I am so fortunate to have the father that I do.

Character Development

So far throughout the novel, The Flowers Cloyd has developed many interesting characteristics. I have noticed that he tries to act professional and masculine, but at the same time he is rude, selfish, a racist, and very controlling over Sonny. When Sonny witnessed Cloyd talking on the phone he said, “I love to eat them tacos, and now I even got myself married to a pretty little Mexican gal.” (51) I found this to be very insulting and selfish of Cloyd to say. This shows that he does not care for his wife Silvia and instead only cares about the food she makes him and her charming looks. I thought that it was even worse when he said that he liked the salsa that he thought she made, when in reality she bought from the store. When Cloyd, Silvia, Bud, and Mary are all having dinner together, Bud and Cloyd talk about black people and what they think of their work ethics and just the idea of them living at the apartment complex. When Bud asked Cloyd about how it would be possible to keep them out Cloyd argued, “I own this apartment building… You think I can’t let who I want to live here? That I can’t figure out how to not let who I don’t want to live here? We take care of each other by taking care of our own interests.” (53) Cloyd is demonstrating racism because of the way he talks about black people and believing that they don’t belong at his apartment complex. He feels that all black people are bad and dangerous, so everyone at the Los Flores would be threatened. Ever since Cloyd has been married to Silvia, he has treated Sonny like crap. He has taken advantage of him by not paying him for all the work he does and does not show him the respect that he deserves. One job that Cloyd assigned Sonny was to chop down a bunch of weeds around the complex. Sonny overheard him talking to his mom about this job and stated, “I had to learn responsibility, how I had to earn my right to stay here. That he was teaching me to be a man.” (63) It seems like Cloyd is just controlling and taking advantage of Sonny to flex his power and authority. He wants to torture him by doing brutal chores because he knows that he can get away with it and, so he will not have to do them. He tries to convince Sonny that he is earning his keep and turning him into a man through tough labor. In reality, he is just using Sonny and this gives himself a way to get rid of Sonny for a while because he obviously does not like him very much. Cloyd shows a sign of masculinity and etiquette when he introduced Sonny to Mr. Womack. When they were about to shake hands Cloyd said, “You shake his hand like a man… Give it a good grip.” (89) Cloyd is once again trying to teach Sonny how to become a man and teaches him how he should interact with certain people like Mr. Womack.

I am

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

I am

I am KC Larson and I am 20 years old and currently go to Gavilan College. My favorite sport is baseball and I enjoy hanging out with my friends and family. I am not the greatest reader and writer, but I hope to improve after taking this course. I also hope to become more engaged in popular literature.

Passage

Saturday, February 5, 2011

After reading the first fifty pages of the novel The Flowers, I found many interesting and difficult passages. The first one that comes to mind though was when a drunken guy stops by Sonny’s apartment and starts yelling and banging on the front door asking for his mother. When the man came by Sonny said, “I heard some man yelling at it loud and he’s beating on it, so hard that it’s shaking and rattling. I ain’t going to answer but he keeps hitting on the door so much I can’t help myself, the words pop out of me that my mom’s not here.” (6)  

I found this passage both interesting and difficult. It was interesting to see how he handled this situation for a fifteen-year-old. Since Sonny has grown up living with only his mother I cannot imagine how tough it must have been without a father figure. I was surprised that he did not run away or try to hide when he heard the man yelling and screaming at the door because I sure would have. Sonny was very brave to stand up for himself and yell back at the man and tell him that his mother was not home. I thought it was also interesting when he searched the house to find a knife for protection.  When I was his age I wish that I was able to think the way that he did. After the man broke the door down and started to attack Sonny, I thought that it was bold of Sonny to try to stab him. I believe that takes a real man to protect his house when one is in a situation like that.

Even though Sonny had a knife, his dog, and the guy being unarmed, it is still difficult for a boy that is half the size of a grown man to have a fair fight. As a result the, man was able to get the knife from Sonny and pin him to the ground causing him to suffer. He hurt Sonny and the dog and walked out the door. That is really sad for a young teenage boy to go through something like that and for something that when on with his mother. It is also pathetic for a grown man to get drunk and take his problems out on a woman’s son that he had an issue with. That is just messed up. I could not imagine what kind of pain Sonny is going through in his childhood. Growing up in a split up family and unfortunately dealing with his mother’s lack of care and protection to let some man come into their house and hurt him. I am sure that Sonny is building a lot of character and becoming a man through abuse, but that is not always the healthiest way for a teenager to grow up. He might end up with a lot of psychological or emotional problems later in life. That can sometimes be difficult to accept and cope with.