From the feminist perspective Sylvia is not the perfect mother. It all depends on the culture and beliefs of the person to determinate how the “ideal woman” is supposed to be. In the novel, The Flowers, Sylvia plays the role of the ideal woman but with different characteristics of typical homemakers. There are many things that make Sylvia stand out from other women. Sylvia “had on a brand new apron. It was cute…she had a new dress on under it too, and too and was fixed up like behind the stove door wasn’t enchiladas” (51). This quote shows how Sylvia differs from other women when they’re in the kitchen cooking. Most women would not wear fancy clothes especially if they’re going to cook because they’ll be afraid of having a big stain in their new clothes. Furthermore, most women would not look that clean and be all perfumed with their nails done, but Sylvia is the exception. Some critics would agree with the idea that Sylvia is an independent woman who likes to enjoy her freedom. The role of the housewife is primary to have dinner ready for the family. Cloyd expects Sylvia to be the usual Mexican wife who knows how to cook all kinds of delicious plates. However, Sylvia doesn’t really know how to cook and she makes food in the modern way; frozen or canned food. The main reason why she chooses this method is because she doesn’t want to disappoint her husband Cloyd. She gets really serious about this idea that she asks Sonny to throw the garbage and not tell Cloyd that she didn’t make the “salsita”. Same as other women, Sylvia likes to go shopping, but she makes it seem very suspicious like an excuse to get out of her house in search of other man rather than going out because she’s “a little bored” (141). It seems like Sylvia doesn’t play the role of mother because she’s somehow paying more attention to Cloyd. However, she does care about Sonny but doesn’t show it that much
I agree that from the Feminist perspective Sylvia is not the perfect woman, but saying she is not the perfect mother from this perspective is complicated—which is great for writing! I like how you have used effective quotes to begin your analysis here, but now I want you to be sure and review the feminist perspective thoroughly. I'd like you to start thinking about what a Feminist would think is the ideal situation for a woman. This isn't easy when considering Sylvia because Feminists are interested in women escaping oppressive situations and Sylvia does escape, in some ways, the oppression in her life by marrying Cloyd. Of course, in marrying Cloyd she is willingly putting herself in an oppressive relationship because he has some very rigid expectations of her. All of this plays out in very interesting ways in the novel as you point out here. In some ways, Sylvia is able to manipulate a situation in order to gain some power, but in other ways she is hopelessly powerless and caught up in in a classic situation of patriarchy. She is dependent on a man for everything and this is exactly what Feminists don't like to see. What really gets complicated is the mother situation in regards to Feminism. A Feminist would definitely be sympathetic to how vulnerable Sylvia is as a single mother in this social situation, so I'm not sure a Feminist would think she is a bad mother because she doesn't have very much control given her circumstances—which is exactly the problem that a Feminist would explore. Keep working through these issues. You have a great start and I'm looking forward to reading more. Don't forget to write in TEA paragraphs and use the quote sandwich to organize and develop your argument.
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