Rough Draft

Dagoberto Gilb’s The Flowers is a short and sweet story of a young teen trying to

figure right and wrong as he’s moved to a troubled apartment complex. These couples

and singles who live around young Sonny throw him into a more adult word than he is

accustomed to only encouraged by Sonny’s interest in the lives of these people among

people besides him and his immediate family. Sonny learns each and everyone’s names

and background from pictures or threw the complex’s thin walls. Through the course

of the novel, Sonny rapidly grows up from this much exposure and freedom to come

and leave home as he pleases. When breaking down Sonny’s relationships with the

other tenants, looking at important quotes and some psychoanalytic criticism, one

could see how these the Flowers unknowingly made this boy the troubled youth at the

novel’s end as well as how the reader can and will connect to young Sonny Bravo in

the Novel.



Before Sonny is taken to the flowers he lives with his mother alone after his

sister moves out. Silvia, Sonny’s mother is portrayed as an overly lenient

housewife who spends a great amount of time on what she wears and how she looks

each and everyday because of this Sonny has a very large amount of freedom and is

used to not seeing his mother very much during the afternoon. Silvia believes that

money is made to spend today and not to save for tommorrow, later Sonny begin to

think the same way with his money either earned, given, or stolen.Silvia doesn’t

cook or desire to spent any time indoors and prides herself on being so attractive

for her age and being the envy of most other housewives. As show moves into the new

apartments she quickly drops her promise to be a stay at home mom for now on. Sonny

tells her very little about his life as she hides a lotwith him as well. In one

quote very early in the book Sonny explains how little he saw of his mother “ My

mom would be around for maybe an hour or two and she’d either change clothes and

leave or be so tired she went into her bed and went to sleep”(Gilb 6 ).The quote

supports the idea of Sonny lack of any sort of authority in his life already up to

the point where he moves. This all sets up events yet to come as well as tell the

reader that Sonny already is a person who keeps to himself.



Following the orders of his new stepfather and complex owner, Sonny is told to do

odd chores around The Flower. Sonny soon meets Cindy, a drop out without a job

living with her husband who is never around. Cindy is attracted to Sonny and every

so often lures him to her apartment, She eventually get Sonny to make love to her

and is one of Sonny more obvious turning points. As her secret affair continues she

becomes more dependant on Sonny’s company than he is to her as seen in many of her

later quotes “ Just a little longer. Stay with me just a little longer. I’m always

alone. I’m lonely.”( Gilb 174). Even when knowing he’s doing is wrong, Cindy teases

and begs Sonny to stay. He’s caught in this look mostly from his fascination in the

lives of others, a naive quality that really helps remind readers of his true age

in contrast with the situations and problems he finds himself in.


Perhaps the root and heart of Sonny’s personality is Pink, a car salesmen who is

secretly  trying to find a way around the racial issue in the apartment

complex. Sonny get a lot of his rebellion from Pink because in Pink’s eyes Sonny is

full grown adult as well as call him his “ little brother“. In exchange for giving

him information on his stepfather‘s suspicion of him , Pink promises Sonny

wonderful things and constantly assures him that he’s doing right “ But it all be

good, it‘s all good, we don‘t got nothing to worry, you know what I mean? It be all

good, all of it gonna be good eventually.” ( Gilb 233). Pink encourages keeping

secrets and also to really look up to one’s self. Sonny’s new found confidence makes

him even more impulsive than he was before and makes many questionable choices

along the way along with creating new tension between Sonny and his stepfather

Cloyd. Pink is without a doubt what makes Sonny’s change come full circle and

connects all other examples only heighten this proof.


Sonny’s roller costar rides, keeps readers emotionally invested in him and the

first person perspective helps as well. Without much parental guidance and Sonny

became more independent and goes where ever he wants to, This lack of supervision

gets Sonny in a love triangle between two woman with personalities who are on way

opposite sides of the spectrum and Sonny’s only real role model becomes himself as

right and wrong only is defined from personal experience and trial and error alone.

Without such time and detail in the telling of his inner thoughts and feeling this

novel would not be as powerful as it is. The Flowers could show anyone how much our

world and popular culture around us shapes our ethics, they shape us all more than

most even realize it.