Rough Draft

KC Larson

3/6/11

English 1B

The Cloyd

            In the novel The Flowers, by Dagoberto Gilb, writes about a Mexican-American teen.  His name is Sonny, who lives with his mother Silvia who decides to marry Cloyd Longpre, a contractor and owner of The Flowers apartment complex.  After reading this novel, I have found Cloyd to have very interesting characteristics and personality traits.  He also has an unusual relationship with Sonny.  Cloyd has provided Sonny with an improved lifestyle compared to what he had growing up with his mother in the old neighborhood.  Cloyd is an alcoholic, and displays prejudice behaviors along with rudeness, selfishness, and manipulation to Sonny, and is also a bad influence.

            In the beginning of the relationship, Cloyd was very warm to Sonny.  Sonny was pleased to have his own room in their new place.  Cloyd went into Sonny’s new room, 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 believes that Cloyd is acting nice because he wants his mother to believe they will get along.  Cloyd believes this will make her feel happier.  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.

            Sonny has now been introduced to a conservative lifestyle.  He has learned to eat dinner as a family and has become exposed to fancy furniture made from maple.  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.  My mom told me the furniture was maple, the same wood found all around the house.”  (19)  While reading this, I understood where Sonny was coming from.  It seemed like Sonny is 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 in places and in relationships that are new. 

            Cloyd has also done Sonny a favor by offering him jobs around the apartment complex that he owns.  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, he will 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.

            Cloyd showed a sign of 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 is the perfect father figure for Sonny, he really is not.  Cloyd sets a very negative example in his drunkenness.  When Sonny was minding his own business, reading his French homework, Cloyd came in yelling at him, “What’r you doing?  He said like I was doing something wrong…he didn’t have on the stupid grin, but the eyes were drooling the whisky.”  (?) Cloyd’s drunken behaviors are a bad influence on Sonny, as he does not respect him when he sees him behaving with drunken stupor. 

            Ever since Cloyd married Silvia, he has treated Sonny poorly. He has taken advantage of him, by expecting lots of manual labor without reward, and does not show him respect that a step son deserves.  The one job that set him 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)  It seems like Cloyd is just controlling and taking advantage of Sonny by flexing his power and authority.  He wants to torture him by assigning brutal chores because he can get the boy to do it rather than doing them himself.  He tried to convince Sonny to earn his keep and turn him into a man through tough labor and responsibility.  In reality, he is 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 new wife.  This shows he does not care for her, but instead mainly cares about the food she fixes him and her charming looks.  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. 

            The most noticeable personality trait of Cloyd is that he is a racist.  When Cloyd, Silvia, Bud, and Mary were eating dinner together, Bud and Cloyd talked about black people, their work ethics and the fact that they lived in 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.  Another example of Cloyd demonstrating racism is when Silvia asked him why it would be such a bad thing for a black man to live at the apartment complex. He replied, “Damn it. Silvia. You know there would be hell to pay!  You know it!  What are you saying?  You see one up there?” (180)  Cloyd obviously has a serious problem with racism.  By his tone of voice, he shows that he is a coward and is afraid of black people.  I think one of the reasons that he is a racist and does not want any black people living there is because he has a bad history filled with hurtful, unforgettable memories with them.  I would not be surprised if he built up all of this hatred when he was a child.  He could have been bullied as a child, or his family could have taught him this behavior. 

            Cloyd Longpre shows many interesting characteristics and personality traits and therefore, has an unusual relationship with Sonny.  Cloyd pretends to be nice to Sonny and claims he is doing him favors such as teaching him to be a man, by teaching how to earn his keep, and work hard, however, Cloyd is manipulative, treats him badly and is not a loving step-father.  He thinks he is doing a good job, however his approach makes Sonny resentful. It is questionable as to the reason he married Silvia, I think he did it for selfish reasons instead of love.