Final Flowers

Chris Bennett

Stacey Knapp

English 1B

March 7, 2011

Sociological Criticism

            In the novel “The Flowers” by Dagoberto Gilb there exists a great deal of controversy surrounding the life of Sonny, a Teenage Mexican American boy. It follows his life and how he is taken abruptly out of his familiar surroundings and moved in to his new step father Cloyd’s home. While at his new place he meets quite a few acquaintances with their own unique traits about them which impact Sonny in both positive and negative ways which begin to influence his later decisions.  Despite his young age he finds himself in many extreme situations and is just trying to live his life. Throughout the story it is clearly visible that the new lifestyle and environment around Sonny rubs off on him and begins his progression from a boy in to a man.

            Sonny was living with only his mother at the time he met Cloyd. He was already a bit of a young troublemaker and fancied breaking in to houses just out of curiosity. He insisted in the beginning that when he would that” I never took nothing, nothing much if I did, because I didn’t want to I was more watching how the people lived. (1)” From the start it’s already clearly visible that he doesn’t have much of a good role model and just runs around on the streets most of the time doing his own thing. Not too long after however he meets his soon to be step daddy only to be stripped right out of his familiar settings to a whole new place. Sonny and his mother Silvia moved in the apartment complex named “Los Flores” owned and operated by Cloyd himself. It was here when Sonny began to make some new friends which began to impact his life and decisions.

The setting of the story takes place in a rough neighborhood most likely in south central in southern California. Being raised in this kind of neighborhood does not make it any easier on Sonny as he has been subject to seeing violent and racist things like towards the end of the story when the riots began to take place. Sonny has already been raised in a somewhat poverty stricken environment but his new surroundings contain more diverse problems for him. One of which is racism, which appears quite frequently throughout the novel. Another topic after analyzing the story from the sociological perspective would be that of who is Sonny trying to fit in with? It seems that he plays his cards differently and changes his persona with each person he encounters so he feels some kind of acceptance like he just wants to belong somewhere. Maybe he could be tired of always having to see his mother with new boyfriends and wants to settle in somewhere even if it means he is not fond of everyone and everything around him. There are multiple ways to look at this situation but Sonny never lets on to any true feelings about his mothers relationships any more than talking about how he knows they wont last long

            Out of all the people that Sonny encounters throughout the story, there are some that gave him some positive reinforcement in growing up. One of the characters that is somewhat taken for granted for what she does is Mrs. Zuniga. She is a sweet Mexican woman who owns Alley Cats with her husband. On a daily basis Sonny grabs dinner and plays multiple bowling frames to pass his time. She almost assumes a motherly role for Sonny since she always enjoyed talking to him and having him there, considering his mom was never really there in his life to give him that nurturing early on. Sonny always enjoyed eating there as well because he said “I ordered a large fries and a burger- Mrs. Zuniga put a pile of jalapeños on it, which I loved, and instead of mayonnaise, she put in her homemade Chile.(55)” He was always able to get his Mexican food which made him happy. Its clear that Sonny is very mature for his age and understands that his mom does not have the nurturing qualities for her role.

Although the Odds are very stacked against him, in certain ways Cloyd had a very positive influence on Sonny in the novel due to the fact that he was teaching him responsibility so he could become a man. Sonny stated that “One of the jobs that Cloyd had made mine was to make sure the laundry room was cleaned up. (27)” I think that Cloyd giving him these tasks turned him in to a harder worker so he wouldn’t mind getting his hands dirty in anything he did. At another point between when Sonny is painting the Los Flores sign on the side of the building he runs in to Cloyd and meets his friend Wilt when Cloyd says to Sonny “You shake his hand like a man…..Give it a good grip! (89)” Cloyd, despite all of the pushing away of Sonny even from the start still tries to push him to become more of a man to prepare him for his future. On the other hand Cloyd is not a very good role model through his actions and words. He is a racist and it begins to show especially towards the end when everyone is watching TV during the riots and he and Bud are commentating on it. While watching they were yelling “Take your baton and hit that nigger, then fuckin’ kick ‘em after that (215).” Overall though it seems like Cloyd taught him to be a man of his word and step up to the plate when times call for it, just like he does in the situation with Nica who became a big part of his life.

Another important positive figure in Sonny’s life was Nica who lived just above him at the apartments. For quite some time they would never actually get to meet her but when he would see her he would get all worked up. Sonny said that “I saw that Nica’s door was open upstairs. I could hear my heart beating, and it wasn’t red, but blue. (57)” This quote shows that he was very fixated on her from the beginning and wanted to make a good impression on her. Nica is a positive driving force in his life because she would be on his mind all the time. At many points he would just be in the room he sleeps in listening if he could hear her voice. Sonny was very hesitant to react with her in the beginning but once he was with her he would open up. At one of their hangouts he got really excited about getting food with her and exclaimed “Hey, I’m hungry right now…..What if I buy us a pizza right now? Are you hungry? Because I’m hungry. (95)” He was always so happy with her he would find a way to prolong his visit.

Along with the positive influences he had a very great share of negative ones as well. A very large contributor to this was his neighbor Cindy. From the first impression she came off as a huge flirt to him and knew she could get his attention. From that point on things just got outright crazy for Sonny as she would coerce him to come inside her apartment because she was lonely. Most of the time she was high or drunk and when walking inside her apartment Sonny would notice “She’d been smoking mota again, the smell strong in her place.(85)” Along with that she always kept it very warm in there which had her dressing a lot more exposed. As more visits went on with her they began to have sex which would make Sonny nervous and have him running for the door after, fearing her husband Tino would be home soon. At one point Mr. Josep gave Sonny a funny tip about his situation with Cindy and said “I say bad,” he said “and I mean good. Good for you being a man. (122)” showing that another fairly underrated character in the book has an impact on Sonny.

The other source of a bad influence came in the form of Pinkston. Pink was an albino African American who made his money selling cars illegally across the street. He seemed to take a liking to Sonny and would always make conversation with him after sneaking up and scaring him. He was negative on Sonny because he started by taking him out for a drive one day and picking up some malt liquor for the two of them. Later on after he had gained some trust in Sonny, it seemed clear that Pink was going to use the Bel Air that he couldn’t hustle back on to the streets to try to make a deal with Sonny. Pink left the deal wide open but simply said to Sonny that “all I need is you to listen for me is all. Be some wide-open ears. I’m speaking of your stepdad…..I got a question, you got an answer. We be partnered up, see? You inside knowing what’s going on is all. (139)” From that point on Sonny was given the keys to the Bel Air which he couldn’t even drive and caught up in a Vague agreement with a mere acquaintance which couldn’t bring much good to him.

Through all of these positive and negative influences came a shift in personality and attitude in Sonny. Towards the beginning he was somewhat quiet but at the same time very proud and courageous. As the book progresses he becomes more aggressive and have more initiative after some things going on around the complex. One of the very first signs of his change was his encounter outside the liquor store where he accidentally knocked a bottle of booze from a homeless mans arms and defended himself like a man when the bum came at him. He may have stood up for himself but after he beat the guy down he stole his wallet which changed the story greatly. The next very big occasion was when he took the money from Cloyd that he had his eyes on for quite some time. The events after the stealing of the money seemed to be filled with much more rage from Sonny since he had been on edge hoping not to get caught. He did stand up one more time to the strange man in the car always tailing him who he referred to as “the sickie.” Sonny was finally fed up with this creep following him and the twins around, so one day when the three of them noticed the car he came up with the idea and said “I picked up a rock. It was a big one, baseball size and heavier. It was a good rock…..I stepped out on the street and threw the rock as hard as I could at his face. It cracked against the windshield. (168)” this showed that Sonny was finally done being harassed by various people and was not afraid any longer.

From the Sociological Perspective and the environment of living in the fractured area of southern California it seems like it toughened Sonny up a bit. His everyday encounters with everyone in the neighborhood had direct results in his actions. Sonny was living a rough life living in a worn out part of town and not having much money which had him resort to stealing just as many others would do in his very same situation. He became much more assertive after spending some time living in that area and it appeared he was able to prove himself to be a man and be the hero at the end saving Nica.

Overall, in the battle of influences in Sonny’s it is evident that the positive side prevails through his actions. Despite all of the racism going on he maintained his poise. It was a bumpy road all the way to the bus stop when the riots picked up. He was able to make it out of that scuffle with the cops and get through the wild mobs of people only in second gear in the Bel Air. He was able to get Nica out of her house where she had been unhappy for so long and gave her all of his savings. With that she would be able to afford the bus ride home back to Mexico and then some. All things set aside, Sonny progressed in to a responsible and brave man by the end of the story and was able improve the life of another. He only had one regret which he stated as being “I could have told her I loved her better (250)” only to end with his newfound love of speaking French

Work Cited

Gilb, Dagoberto. “The Flowers.” New York: Grove Press. 2008