Idea Paper

I’m not really sure if I want to do my paper based on gender, reader response or psychoanalytic criticism, but here are some of my ideas.

 I believed that Sylvia, Sonny’s mother, is an important character in the Novel “The Flowers”. The relationship of mother and son between Sylvia and Sonny has changed ever since his mother and Cloyd got married. The marriage of this couple is very unusual because although they live in the same house; each one of them goes their own way. For instance, Sylvia always wants to go out shopping because she’s always “bored” and wants some type of distraction. There were times where it seemed like if Sylvia was only going out in search of another man.  On the other hand, Cloyd is always working and when he comes home he expects Sylvia to have dinner ready. Sylvia contrasts the idea of a typical Mexican homemaker, because she doesn’t really know how to cook and when she cooks is canned and frozen food. Although Sylvia doesn’t know how to cook, she doesn’t want to disappoint her husband and asks Sonny for his discretion. “Don’t tell him I didn’t make this” (78). Also another characteristic that differences Sylvia from other women is the idea of beauty. She has fancy and sometimes new clothes when she’s about to cook, wears her beautiful apron and has her nails done; she looks clean and gets ready even if she’s not planning to go out.

I think that Sonny’s change from child to man is definitely an important topic in this novel.  Furthermore, the environment in which he lives forms a huge part of Sonny’s change especially when he’s dealing with people he dislikes and different personalities all combined in the same neighborhood. There are positive/negative characters that contribute to shape his personality as a good/ bad teenager. Pink is setting a bad example for Sonny because he gives Sonny the car keys as an exchange of his words about Cloyd, “all I need is you to listen for me is all…be wide-open ears” (139).  Furthermore, with the help of Cindy, Sonny becomes sexually active and in a way learns that there are no morals between a marriage couple such as respect and loyalty, although he knows that he’s not supposed to be in her apartment. On the other hand, Mr. and Mrs. Zuniga feed Sonny with the food he likes and bowls to have a great time. Nica forms part of the innocence of Sonny and shows him that at an early age she has a huge responsibility; to take care of her little brother angel. Although he likes her, he knows how to control himself when he’s with Nica and treats her and Cindy differently. The twins are really funny and make Sonny feel more mature than them. Cloyd teaches Sonny the importance of life by showing him how to work and take some responsibility as he gets older becoming the janitor of The Flowers. Sylvia shows that he cares for Sonny but in a poor way; not having a strong mother and son relationship. One the things these two characters have in common are that they don’t like to express/share their feelings and they keep everything within themselves. I strongly believe that Sonny makes wrong and right decisions that help him shape his character.