2nd rough draft the flowers

The Flower

The female characters in the novel, The Flower by Dagoberto Gilb, Silvia, Cindy and Nica, share the traditional gender role of a woman. They all live in this patriarchal system where the man sets the rules and the women abide by them. The main character, Sonny, a fifteen year old boy, shows us the oppressive life style these women face and how their cultural heritage has played a huge role in their lives.

Silvia, the mother of Sonny, was described as a beautiful woman who always dressed so elegant, her clothes were always new, she smelled of perfume, wore sparkling jewelry, her nails were always painted and her high heels were always color coordinated with her outfits. Sonny described Sylvia as a sex object, “How pretty she was in a way men are flipping through pages of dirty magazines” (Gilb10). Silvia didn’t pay much attention to Sonny, he explained a time in the novel when she kissed him, “She kissed me right on the lips. I couldn’t remember the last time she kissed me anywhere, unless it was for show when she’d also be drinking” (Gilb18). Silvia manipulated her way through life by using men; Silvia met a man by the name of, Cloyde Longpre, who would take care of her and her son. Cloyd had provided a home, a car and money for them with the expectation that Silvia would be a stay at home mother, cook for him when he was hungry, cater to any guest who would come over and keep the house clean. Silvia found herself miserable trying to fulfill Cloyd’s expectations. She did not like to cook, did not like to clean, and before she moved in with Cloyd, she had a lady to come and clean her home. Silvia’s life became oppressive because of her dependence on Cloyd, a man she did not love! Silvia seemed to know, no other way to get through life but to use her beauty, it was though she didn’t even know how to love her own children because she was so focused on maintaining herself so she could get through life.

Then there was Cindy, poor little Cindy, a nineteen year old girl who was married to a man who paid no attention to her at all. Cindy flaunted around described as, “Her skin made curves, from a lot below her belly button way up, and it was hard not to pay attention to there because it came so close to those places you weren’t supposed to stare at but couldn’t  not at the same time. If the clothes seemed too small, also everything fit her good” (Gilb28). Cindy didn’t have any friends and was left at home with no money, no car and nowhere to go in life. Her husband Tino would work all day and whenever he came home, he expected sex and would then take off and hang out with his buddies. When she met Sonny and the fact that Sonny would acknowledge her, she used her only weapon which was her body and sex. Cindy would seduce Sonny and would vent to him about how miserable she was and how much she hated her husband. She did seem like a depressed young girl who would do anything for affection and to suppress her feelings of loneliness, boredom and feeling unloved, she would smoke weed and drink alcohol. In Cindy’s defense, maybe she knew no other way in her little world, due to her upbringing in life and was raised to grow up and find a man who is supposed to take care of her and in return her job was to put up with any situation that the man put in her way, even a situation of being dependent on a man. Whatever her situation may have been she did not think

or feel very good about herself, because she stayed in a marriage where she would continue to feel alone and unloved.

Nica was around the same age as Cindy. Nica was actually the opposite of Cindy. She was best described by Sonny as. “She was a little girl in a white chiffon dress and black shoes and a pink ribbon. But you do not tell!” She was a little girl” (Gilb164). Nica was pulled out of school by her parents so she could stay home and take care of her baby brother Angelito. It seemed the only two things in life her mother and step father allowed her to interact with, were her younger brother and the T.V. Her parents would not let her out of the house, so when she met Sonny, she was glad to have a level of conversation with someone of her own age. Sonny introduced her to pizza and gave her the opportunity to express her desires of wanting to change her name to Carmen or Cathy and how she did not like being Mexican and how she want to travel to Spain. Nica suffered from a life style that she had no control over. It was her Mexican heritage and upbringing of her own parents that kept her at home to care for her brother and neglect her education. They sheltered her from the world almost as it was her duty to be their personal slave until her debt was paid off!

From a feminist point of view, these women lived an oppressive life style because of the dominate stereotype image that has carried with us for hundreds of years. Until this very day, women suffer from the staggering motto of, “The Man Wears the Pants,” “The Man has the Better Education,” which means, “The man makes more money,” leading the women’s dependence on a man, which brings us back to Silvia, Cindy and Nica who share a common life style, they have all became dependent on a man to provide for them, even if it meant they lived a unhappy.

WEEK SEVEN "THE YELLOW WALLPAPER."

Based on the title alone, "Why I Wrote the Yellow Wallpaper," my breakdown of the story determine that, because we do not have a degree or lack the education that any specialist may have the advantage of, we as human beings could better diagnose ourselves than hearing it from an over educated specialist. I say this because, I myself have been diagnosed with an over active thyroid and was prescribed all these medications which I had refused to take, two or so months later when I went back to see the physician, he had run all the blood work all over again and when the test results finally came back, my Thyroid was back to normal. When the physican originally diagnosed me with hyper tension and offered me medication, I did not refuse it because I was being rebellious I wanted to try an alternative and my life style habits, such as exercising, the way I eat and so forth so I would not have my body become dependent on a medication. This is how I felt and I felt that taking a medication would not be the best thing for me so I tried and succeeded as Charlotte Perkins Gilman did. Instead of laying in bed and going crazy, she continued to live a normal working life.

Literary Terms:

"Transitions"

Addition Category:  again, also, and, and then, besides, equally important, finally, first, further, furthermore, in addition, in the first place, last, moreover, next, second, still, too
Comparison Category:  also, in the same way, likewise, similarly
Concession Category:  granted, naturally. of course
Contrast Category:  although, and yet, at the same time, but at the same time, despite that, even so, even though, for all that, however, in contrast, in spite of, instead, neverthless, notwithstanding, on the contrary, on the other hand, otherwise, regardless, still, though, yet
Emphasis Category:  certainly, indeed, in fact, of course
Example or Illustration Category:  after all, as an illustration, even, for example, for instance, in conclusion, in deed, in fact, in other words, in short, it is true, of course, namely, specifically, that is, to illustrate, thus, truly
Summary Category:  all in all, altogether, as has been said, finally, in brief, in conclusion, in other words, in particular, in short, in simpler terms, in summary, on the whole, that is, therefore, to put differently, to summarize
Time Sequence Category:  alter a while, afterward, again, also, and then, as long as, at last, at length, at that time, before, besides, earlier, eventually, finally

Idea Paper/ROUGH DRAFT

I have been working really hard to use the rigth words so my paper is from a feminist point of view without saying from a feminist point of view just yet, this is what I have so far:

Faith Lucero                                                                                                                                                                                         

Professor: Stacey Knapp

English 1B

7 March 2011

The Flower

The female characters in the novel, The Flower by Dagoberto Gilb, Silvia, Cindy and Nicca, are portrayed as the traditional stay at home women. One or all of these women carries a duty to keep themselves up for their husband, take care of the child, keep the home clean, cook dinner and all the other ideal chauvinist jobs that one might think they should do.  Although through Sonny’s eye’s, he shows us the oppressive life style these women face and how their root heritage have played huge burden in their lives.

Silvia, the mother of Sonny, was described as this beautiful women who always dressed so proper, her clothes were always new she smelled of perfume, wore sparkling jewelry, her nails were always painted and her high heels matched all her new dresses. Sonny described Sylvia as a sex object, “How pretty she was in a way men are flipping through pages of dirty magazines” (Gilb10). Silvia didn’t pay much attention to Sonny, he explained a time in the novel when she kissed him, “She kissed me right on the lips. I couldn’t remember the last time she kissed me anywhere, unless it was for show when she’d also be drinking” (Gilb18). Silvia used her beauty, found a man who would take care of her and her son, Cloyde Longpre, who provided a home, a car and money for them. Silvia did not have to work but found herself miserable. She did not like to cook, did not like to clean, before she married and moved in with Cloyde she had a lady to come and clean her home. Silvia’s life became oppressive because of her dependence on Cloyde,

                                                                                                                        Lucero 2

a man she did not love! Silvia seemed to know, no other way to get through life but to use her beauty, it was though she didn’t even know how to love her own children because she was so focused on maintaining herself so she could get through life.

Then there was Cindy, poor little Cindy, a nineteen year old girl who was married to a man who paid no attention to her at all. Cindy flaunted around described as, “Her skin made curves, from a lot below her belly button way up, and it was hard not to pay attention to there because it came so close to those places you weren’t supposed to stare at but couldn’t  not at the same time. If the clothes seemed to small, also everything fit her good” (Gilb28). Cindy didn’t have any friends and was left at home with no money, no car and nowhere to go in life. Her husband Tino would work all day and whenever he came home, he expected sex and would then take off and hang out with his buddies. When she met Sonny and the fact that Sonny would acknowledge her, she used her only weapon which was her body and sex. Cindy would seduce Sonny and would vent to him about how miserable she was and how much she hated her husband. She did seem like a depressed young girl who would do anything for affection and to suppress her feelings of loneliness, boredom and feeling unloved, she would smoke weed and drink alcohol. In Cindy’s defense, maybe she knew no other way in her little world, due to her upbringing in life and was raised to grow up and find a man who is supposed to take care of her and in return her job was to put up with any situation that the man put in her way, even a situation of being dependent on a man. Whatever her situation may have been she did not think or feel very good about herself, because she stayed in a marriage where she would continue to feel alone and unloved.

                                                                                                            Lucero 3

Nica, was around the same age as Cindy. Cindy was actually the opposite of Cindy. She was best described by Sonny as. “She was a little girl in a white chiffon dress and black shoes and a pink ribbon. But you do not tell!” She was a little girl” (Gilb164). Nica was pulled out of school by her parents so she could stay home and take care of her baby brother Angelito. It seemed the only two things in life she was allowed to interact with were her younger brother and the T.V. Her parents would not let her out of the house, so when she met Sonny, she was glad to have a level of conversation with someone of her own age. Sonny introduced her to pizza and gave her the opportunity to express her feelings and thoughts of wanting to change her name to Carmen or Cathy and how she did not like being Mexican and want to travel to Spain. Nica suffered from a life style that she had no control over. It was her Mexican heritage and upbringing of her own parents that kept her at home to care for her brother and neglect her education. They sheltered her from the world almost as it was her duty to be their personal slave until her debt was paid off.

Silvia, Cindy and Nica all have one thing in common, they were all dependent on someone to care for them and provide for them, even if it meant they lived a miserable life.  From a feminist point of view, these women lived an oppressive life style. Until this very day, women still suffer from the staggering motto of, “The Man Wears the Pants,” “The Man has the Better Education,” which means, “The man makes more money,” leading the women to praise the man because he brings in all the income. Therefore, the women gets stuck feeling they should be taking care of the children, cooking and cleaning.

Blog #4

5. Re-examine character

I wrote about Sylvia and I think Sylvia is still looked at as a beauty icon in everyone’s eyes. Mary, Buds wife said, “Some women are just born with looks. My husband talks about her all the time”(p.185). Sylvia still dresses up every day and cooks very little but she start to explain how she is so bored at home that she starts to go out more and more and Cloyde starts to ask Sonny all the time where his mother his and he shows frustrastion because she is always gone. I can see Sylvia starting to hate where she is at but maybe feels like it is a good place for Sonny, maybe she feels like by her staying with Cloyde she is providing better for her son because her son is learning responsibility because Clyde gives him chores to do around the complex, and she has provided him with a man in his life. Maybe in Sylvia’s eyes she is staying with Cloyde even though she is very unhappy because she is not emotionally in his life and she has replaced herself by putting Clyde in Sonny’s life, even though Sonny expresses Cloyde as, “The Cloyde.”

6. Examine a female from a feminist perspective: Cindy

Cindy seems to be a very lonely young girl who is just crying out for any attention. Cindy is home all day and shows signs of depression by smoking weed all day and drinking wine or wine coolers and seduces a fifteen year old boy into have sex with her. Cindy begs Sonny to hang out with her and says she is unhappy with her life and mentions she is not in love with her husband. She tells Sonny how her husband  works all day and then goes out with his friends and does who know what! Sonny also mentions how she is always coming out of her apartment practically naked (p.195).  From a feminist point of view, that is a young girl crying out for affection and any type of attention. Cindy probably stays in her situation because she obviously married at a young age and did not finish school. She has become dependent on her husband and has nowhere else to go, no money, no car, she is completely stuck in the apartment with nothing to do, it seems like no one in the complex ever notice her but Sonny. Because she lacks the education and dependency it seems the only way she knows how to communicate with a male is by having sex, using her body in hopes of receiving a companionship and someone to love her. It is like when you hear about young girls who have baby’s at a young age so someone will love them back. It is sad but with the lack of knowledge and their upbringing, this seems to be the only alternative they know.                                                                                     

Blog #3

Topic #1 a Theme: Sonny Stealing

I would like to write about Sonny Stealing and why he does it throughout the novel.  Since the beginning of the novel Sonny had mentioned he would break into homes and then finally admitted he would pick up lose change here and there in places that he figured people would forget about it so it was not a big deal. He also mentioned he did not know why he did it and he didn’t like the way he felt after he did it but he did. Later on in the novel Sonny bumped into an older man who got real angry with him but because the old man tried to hurt him Sonny hit him until the man was down and stole his wallet.  It seemed the angry Sonny would get inside he would rebel by stealing. I believe it was the rush feeling he would get the made him feel somewhat better inside since no one paid attention to him and no one understood him.  I am only curious to see if he gets caught for all the money he had been steeling, he was already caught for steeling the magazines.

Topic#4 The significance of the car salesman

I think the salesman Pink is important in this novel because he is like Sylvia and Sonny who are not races. He gives Sonny a car in return ask’s Sonny to keep an ear out of what Cloyde might be saying about Pink. Pink knows Cloyde and Bud look at him funny because he sells and talks to black people and wants to make sure he doesn’t run into any problems with the landlord Cloyde  so it is Sonny’s job to make sure Pink is up to date with what anyone is saying about him.  Sonny got to ride around with Pink one time and seen how he interacted with the blacks and even though Pink wasn’t a big man he explained him as big man out on the streets. I think Pink was about making money and didn’t care about color and race. He knew in the future things would be different but people like Cloyde and Bud just made things impossible for colored people but it would change. I am going to predict that Pink is going to have problems with Cloyde because they are going to find out that he has given the car to Sonny. I bet Cloyde is going to kick him out of the apartment complex or maybe Sylvia is just going to have enough of Cloyde and Buds behavior since they seem to look down on Mexicans and Blacks that Sylvia and Sonny are going to leave Cloyde.