Rough Draft Edit

KC Larson

English 1B

Instructor Knapp

10 March 2011

The Cloyd

In the novel The Flowers, the author Dagoberto Gilb, wrote about a Mexican-American teen named Sonny, who lives with his mother Silvia and stepfather Cloyd, a contractor and owner of The Flowers apartment complex.  After reading this novel, I found Cloyd to have many interesting characteristics and personality traits, which reflected his unusual relationship with Sonny. By using the Reader Response Theory, I analyzed and explained how Cloyd affected Sonny's life. Although Cloyd believed he helped and provided Sonny with an improved lifestyle compared to what he had growing up, Cloyd’s display of alcoholism and prejudice behaviors caused him to be very rude, selfish, and manipulative. Therefore, Cloyd became a bad influence by trying to make Sonny’s life miserable.

            In the beginning of the relationship, Cloyd was very warm to Sonny.  Sonny was pleased to have his own room in his new apartment. Cloyd was generous when he went into Sonny’s and said, ‘“I can get you a studying desk, too…. looking at an empty space.  I got the one that was in here out back in the storage unit”’ (16). Sonny believed that Cloyd is acting nice because he wanted his mother to believe they would get along.  Cloyd believed that by pretending to like Sonny and being nice to him, Silvia would be happy. I think Sonny is right about Cloyd pretending to be nice to him only to impress his mother. Now that his mother Silvia is not at home as much, Cloyd is able to take advantage of Sonny and treat him however he wants.

            Cloyd’s apartment was a lot different compared to Sonny’s and Silvia’s old one. Cloyd’s apartment represented a conservative lifestyle. Sonny learned that most American families eat dinner as a family and on a big dinner table like Cloyd has. He also became exposed to the fancy furniture in the house. When Sonny looked around Cloyd’s apartment and thought about eating dinner at the supper table, he said, “We never ate dinner at no table before, unless it was at a restaurant.  [His] mom told [him] the furniture was maple, the same wood found all around the house” (19).  After reading this, I understood where Sonny was coming from.  It seemed like Sonny was overwhelmed with his new surroundings and does not like a lot of change going on at once.  I feel the same way at times. It is hard to get comfortable around new places and surroundings.

            Throughout the novel, Cloyd stressed the importance of being a hard worker and taking responsibility for his actions. Cloyd believed that he did Sonny a favor by offering him jobs around the apartment complex. Some of the jobs included sweeping floors, washing windows, and cleaning the laundry room.  Even though Sonny did not get paid for these chores, he did not care. Cloyd explained to Sonny that his chores were required and that he needed to contribute around the house.  Sonny was in agreement, claiming, “This was to keep my end of deal. To learn responsibility…. I did not mind working. I wanted something to do” (28).  I thought that was a great attitude for Sonny to have.  If he stayed occupied working, then he would stay out of trouble. In some ways, Cloyd is teaching him discipline, however, he has high expectations of him. By doing all the chores for no pay, Sonny is building character and becoming a man.

            As Cloyd continued to mold Sonny into a man, he taught him the importance of respecting another man. Cloyd did this by showing masculinity and etiquette when he introduced Sonny to Mr. Womack. When they were about to shake hands, Cloyd stated, ‘“You shake his hand like a man…. give it a good grip!”’ (89).  Cloyd is once again teaching Sonny how to become a man and shows him how to interact with certain people like Mr. Womack. I was about Sonny’s age when I was introduced to proper handshaking. My uncle made a point to mention how important a firm handshake was to a man you meet for the first time. I do believe that is important and my father reaffirmed it when I asked him about the importance of a simple handshake. 

            Even though Cloyd believes he was the perfect father figure for Sonny, he was not.  Cloyd sets a very negative example for Sonny by constantly being drunk and yelling at him all the time. When Cloyd asked Sonny where his mother was, he said he did not know. Cloyd became frustrated and yelled, ‘“Don’t talk to me like that!.... You talk to me with respect, you understand?.... He was drunk, the red in the bulbs of his eyes at the bottom like it sank down there, or they were the roots growing off the blue above”’ (126). I believe Cloyd’s drinking problems were a  huge threat to Sonny. Some people are good at handling their liquor, but Cloyd is one who is not. He abused alcohol to the point where he became very mean and vulgar, especially towards Sonny. If I were Sonny, I would not have put up with this lifestyle. I would have run away and never looked back. If Sonny continued to live with Cloyd, he would have a better chance of getting killed or severely abused from Cloyd’s drinking behaviors. I could not trust living with a parent that had a drinking problem. I would always anticipate or expect them doing something crazy depending on how drunk they got. I could not stand to watch my back every second of every day worrying about them.

Ever since Cloyd married Silvia, he treated Sonny like a slave. He has taken advantage of him, by expecting a lot of manual labor without reward, and does not show him the respect that a step son deserves.  The one job that finally set Sonny off was when he was assigned to chop down weeds around the complex.  Sonny overheard Cloyd talking to his mother about this job. Cloyd told her, that I needed to learn responsibility and earn the right to stay here.  He continued on the subject by telling her I needed to learn to be a man (63). Sonny did everything in his power to convince his mother to make Cloyd pay him. Sonny argued, ‘“I want it, and he said he’ll pay me right? He said he would. I believed him”’ (81). In this situation the amount of money was not the issue for Sonny. It was more about getting paid period. Cloyd did not keep is end of the bargain and that was not right. People like Cloyd who do not follow through and do what they promise make me sick. Moreover, it’s ironic of Cloyd to treat Sonny this way because he was teaching him how to be a man. I’m pretty sure a man keeps his word and does not break a promise.  The only reason I thought of for why Cloyd did this was to control and take advantage of Sonny, so he could flex his power and authority.  He wanted to torture him by assigning brutal chores because he could get Sonny to do them rather than doing them himself.  He tried to convince Sonny that by struggling with chores that were hard, he was learning responsibility, how to be a man, and earning his keep.  In reality, he was just using Sonny by keeping him busy to keep him out of his way.

            Cloyd demonstrates rude and selfish behavior when Sonny overhears him on the phone.  Cloyd 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 for Cloyd to say about his wife.  This shows he does not care for her, but instead mainly cares about the food she fixes him and her charming looks. I do not believe that Cloyd married Silvia for the right reasons and that is selfish of him. I thought it was even worse when he said he liked the salsa she made, when it was from a jar.  Cloyd is either ignorant or simply disrespectful.  Either way that was not right for Cloyd to treat Sonny’s mother like that. I know I would never allow anyone to treat my mother like that.

            The most noticeable personality trait of Cloyd is that he was a racist.  When Cloyd, Silvia, Bud, and Mary were eating dinner together, Bud and Cloyd talked about black people and the the idea of them living at the apartment complex.  When Bud asked Cloyd about how it would be possible to keep them from moving in, Cloyd argued, ‘“I own this apartment building…you think I can’t let who I want 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 they do not belong in his apartment complex.  He feels that all black people are bad and dangerous, so everyone at the Los Flores would be threatened. Cloyd also demonstrates racism by not doing anything when Bud shoved and verbally harassed Sonny. All he said was, ‘“I heard what happened. I heard and it wasn’t right…. shouldn’t of happened, shouldn’t of”’ (225). This being shows that Cloyd does not care about Sonny or his wife Silvia because he did not do anything to defend them. If Sonny was white, I think the situation would have been handled differently. No one gets away with hitting another man’s child. However, since Sonny is Mexican and not related to Cloyd, he does not care about him.

            Cloyd shows many interesting characteristics and personality traits and therefore, has an unusual relationship with Sonny.  Cloyd believed he gave Sonny a better life, did him favors, such as teaching him how to be a man, taught him responsibility, and how to work hard. However, Cloyd was manipulative, treated him badly, a racist, careless and not a loving step-father.  He thought he was doing a good job, but his approach made Sonny resentful.