Annotated Bibliography

Claudia Durst Johnson.  “The Scarlet Letter: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents.” Greenwood Press (1995) Print.

 Johnson suggests that part of the powerful intensity of The Scarlet Letter comes from Hawthorne's portrayal of the strength and waste of Hester's deep love for a man and for her child. This portrayal is most likely drawn from his relationship with two women-his mother and Margaret Fuller. Johnson explains that Hawthorne’s mother’s first child, Ebe, had been conceived when she was unmarried, several months before her marriage to Hawthorne's father. Like Hester, she had observed society, Salem, from the outside;  she was unable to participate in the social life around her, withdrawing to Maine where she had more control over her daily life in a house built for her and her children. It was there that Hawthorne had played as a boy by a brook, Dingley Brook, and sadly observed to his sister in a letter that his mother had begun to wear a "cap" just as Hester hides her beauty until the Brook scene. 

Rough draft

Jorden Castanon

5/4/11

English 1B

Professor Stacy Knapp

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter may have been published over 160 years ago but certain themes still stay true today. In a Reader response criticism such as this paper, the views of good and evil will be evaluated as well as the theme of identity & society. The novel focus around the protagonist Hester Prynne and Minister Arthur Dimmesdale who establish a relationship,  kept in secret and not seen by their external factors, the Puritan’s society. Both characters stray from strict Puritan beliefs by committing adultery and having a love child, Pearl. Hester is immediately thrown in jail when the puritan society learns of this as well as for not confessing the name of the man whom helped her commit this sin. Her refusal then makes the town put her through public humiliation by wearing the letter A, for her adultery.

            Good and evil is a dilemma in which mankind uses their own individual moral compass to establish between whether their actions can be justified or not.  As a reader, I never found the actions of Arthur or Hester to be evil. In their society Hester was seen as a harlot that deserved to publicly humiliated for such a great sin. Over several years did the town finally see Hester in a different light rather than being ungodly.  Hester’s view in society had changed, “ It was perceived, too, that while Hester never put forward even the humblest title to share in the world’s privileges…she was quick to acknowledge her sisterhood with the race of man, whenever benefits were to be conferred. None so ready as she to give of her little substance to every demand of poverty; even though the bitter-hearted pauper threw back a gibe in requital of the food brought regularly to his door, or garments wrought for him by the fingers that could have embroidered a monarch’s robe”(252.) These actions are of someone who generally cares about their society yet the society from whom she tries to help still disrespects her because of her past action that was seen as evil. Her actions are of someone without a past history of sin would be seen probably as saintly.

 If any character should be marked as an evil figure in puritan society, it should have been Hester’s husband, Chillingworth. He comes into town only to seek revenge against the man who disgraced him and Hester’s character among Puritan society. Chillingworth’s character is seen as “ an aspect of mystery, which was easily heightened to the miraculous... that heaven had wrought an absolute miracle, by transporting an eminent Doctor of physic, from a German university, bodily through the air, and setting him down at the door of Mr. Dimmesdale’s study”(188.) The Hippocratic oath is one of the most widely known medical texts. It requires physicians to swear to practice medicine ethically to best professional ethical standards. Yet as a doctor Chillingsworth knows the fragile state of Dimmesdale who is on the verge of death, and still decides to torture him and Hester.   Only till the end of the novel does he actually

The ideas of good and evil are very subjective amongst the puritan society in The Scarlet Letter.  Yet from such partial analysis of Hester’s and Pearl’s character’s seen by the townspeople, they portrayed as outcasts.  Social values are important to maintain a high standing in society. There will always be social values in which society must live by but they shouldn’t establish a person’s character. Hester and Pearl continuously have to endure people tormenting them because of the symbol Hester must burden. This is why I tend to admire Hester the most out of all the characters. She’s constantly has to fight for herself and Pearl’s well being. “She is not physically imprisoned, and leaving the Massachusetts Bay Colony would allow her to remove the scarlet letter and resume a normal life.”  Instead she decides to acknowledge the town’s lack of compassion by embroidering the letter into something quite stunning and accepting the sin she has committed rather than being what the town wants her feel which is shame.  Hester’s character realizes “that individuality and strength are gained by quiet self-assertion and by a reconfiguration, not a rejection, of one’s assigned identity.”

Yet Dimmesdale never quite got this concept until he died. This makes Dimmesdale my least favorite character because instead of physically and emotionally punishing himself he could have done what Hester had the strength to do which was live her life by her own standards. Admittingly Dimmesdalse’s stature in society did help Hester when the idea came up of Pearl being taken away. His words might have not been taken into account if the townspeople knew of his sins but he should have just ran off with his family before hand when he had the chance. Hester’s character takes the burden of carrying a symbol of disgrace publicly.  I understand that Dimmesdale’s character cannot openly take this burden on, so in a sense of self-condemnation he takes it upon himself to physically and mentally punish himself. “…While standing on the scaffold, in this vain show of expiation, Mr. Dimmesdale was overcome with a great horror, as if the universe were gazing at a scarlet token on his naked breast, right over his heart.  On that spot, in very truth, there was, and there had long been, the gnawing and poisonous tooth of bodily pain”(233). Dimmesdale dilemma is trying to fight the torment of not telling the truth. Since he can’t bring himself to do so his is soon withering and dimming away in body and spirit.

I mostly relate to the character Pearl, throughout the book her character is misconstrued as a demon, widely unexpected. Growing up when my grandmother found my sisters and I difficult to deal with, she would repeatedly shout out that we were “demons” as well. “”Mistress Hibbins says my father is the prince of the air!” Cried Pearl, with her naughty smile. “If thou callest me that ill name, I shall tell him of thee; and he will chase thy ship with a tempest!”” (388). Sailors come into town telling the “witch baby”, Pearl, to give a certain message to her mother but when Pearl receives it is with a negative connation from the sailors forcing her to be in a constant state of emotional reaction so that she won’t feel ashamed.   I view Pearl as a universal character that many people can relate to because even though she is degraded by her social stature which people in her life view as a handicap she preservers.  Pearl resembles her mother in the way she’s always viewed as having an evil aspect. The irony is that it also happens amongst the sailors who aren’t apart of the town and are scandalous characters themselves. “Thence, with native audacity, but still with a reserve as characteristic, she flew into the midst of a group of mariners, the swarthy-checked wild men of the ocean, as the Indians were of the land; and they gazed wonderingly and admiringly at pearl, as if a flake of the sea-fire, that flashes beneath the prow in the night-time”(388.) Pearl’s character is best described by these sailors as having the soul of the fire that sailors see in the deep water at night.  Her spirit can be noticeably seen and only appreciated amongst other individuals who don’t conform well to society.

Hawthorne's novel looks at the question, what is necessary for redemption of sin? Is Hester's initial crime a sin? Hester marries Chillingworth without quite understanding the commitment she made. With Chillingworth goes abroad with his wear -abouts unknown, like anyone might, she fell in love. For this kind of sin, does the punishment really fit the crime? Because of this sin committed Hester goes through battles to keep Pearl and her dignity. Hester’s actions are later seen as redeeming in the eyes of society but after years of ridicule. Hawthorne's novel therefore should encourage the reader to be wary of judging others and showing empathy for one another. 

Dimmesdale quote sandwich

Hester’s character takes the burden of carrying a symbol of disgrace publicly. Dimmesdale’s character cannot openly take this burden on, so in a sense of self-condemnation he takes it upon himself to physically and mentally punish himself. “…while standing on the scaffold, in this vain show of expiation, Mr. Dimmesdale was overcome with a great horror, as if the universe were gazing at a scarlet token on his naked breast, right over his heart.  On that spot, in very truth, there was, and there had long been, the gnawing and poisonous tooth of bodily pain”(233). Dimmesdale dilemma is trying to fight the torment of not telling the truth. Since he can’t bring himself to do so his is soon withering and dimming away in body and spirit.

The Relationship between Hester and Dimmesdale is rarely seen. The characters are only seen together in secret without the knowledge of the external factors such as the townspeople. “The Minister felt for the child’s other hand, and took it. The moment that he did so, there came what seemed a tumultuous rush of new life, other life than his own, pouring like a torrent into his heart, and hurrying through all his veins, as if the mother and the child were communicating their vital warmth to his half-torpid system. The three formed an electric chain”(238). Dimmesdale is a broken man but when connected to Hester and Pearl his external and internal conflict don’t impair him.

Difficulty paper Scarlet Letter

I found it difficult to understand Hester’s husbands Chillingworth’s character throughout the book. I especially found it difficult to understand him when Hester finds that he has come to the town early on in the book and agrees to keep him a secret from the town and the Dimmesdale. Hester later tells Dimmesdale about the truth about Chillingworth character but only when Dimmesdale is most fragile.  I found it odd that the townspeople never really questioned his presence but thought he had fallen from the sky or risen from the earth. From that people thought his presence was a miracle, which seems a little bit ridiculous. I found it strange that Hester wouldn’t warn Dimmesdale about living with the man who had sworn to find out who Pearl’s father was destroy him.  The townspeople later say a physical change since Dimmesdale and Chillingworth moved in, they saw Chillingworth face become more deformed. They saw something ugly and evil in his face.  The townspeople throughout this especially got me angry. They judge every person in the town so easily and every time their judgment is very superficial. I also found it odd the relationship between Pearl and Hester because it seems that see loves Pearl devoutly but also finds peace when she sleeps. The whole town she’s her as a odd child but so does Hester. Which I find weird because that’s her daughter and yet she occasionally seems baffled by her too. 

difficulty paper YGB

When I started reading Young Goodman Brown, it didn’t seem hat difficult to read gradually was hard to follow. I understand that YGB was testing himself and his faith by entering the forest but I feel a little lost why he feels so distressful in church. In class we talked about how he saw the people surrounding him as evil. He started out by being a very proud untainted religious man but as the story progresses he definitely changes. I personally think he should have listened to his wife about not going on that path though he decided to do so anyways because he thought he would test himself. I really don’t understand why he would even talk to the fellow traveler he saw who clearly represented the devil. I find it interesting that even with the devil telling him that he has been acquainted with his grandfather and grandfather who helped bring helped lash a Quaker woman in the streets of Salem and father who set fire to an Indian village. If that was personally me, I feel like I would start running the other way. Those deeds seem evil.  Its interesting that in both the Crucible and Young Goodman Brown, Nathaniel Hawthorne still feels responsible and guilty of what his ancestors did in the past by writing about those evils. 

Girl/ 4 literary terms revision

Looking at Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl”, I noticed that a particular literary term used was a Rhythm. Through out the story the mother and daughter relationship was particularity made up of the mother being very socially aware of their socioeconomic status. The mother wants her daughter to know certain women’s roles in order to live everyday life. The mother uses command verbs like wash, cook, and soak but also explains in the text “This how you sweep a corner; this is how you sweep a whole house; this is how you sweep a yard.” Not only does the mother talk to her daughter about cleaning and cooking but also how to react in social situations like how to react if someone smiles at you that you do and don’t like. That particular passage on how to sweep and smile goes into a rhythm that the mother knows first hand how to react to. She must have gone through the experience of getting rid a baby, bullying men as well as being bullied by.  The mother seems to have acceptance of her socioeconomic status and wants her daughter to be just as aware. Another Literary term used is verbal irony shown in the last phrase in the story, “always squeeze bread to make sure it’s fresh; but what if the baker wont let me feel the bread?; you mean to say that after all you are really going to be the kind of woman who the baker wont let near the bread?” The mother finally achieves her goal for the daughter to be socially aware of her position in society yet wonders why her daughter feels a like the baker wont let her squeeze the bread, shaking her confidence she once had. The mother throughout the story tells her that she’s bent on becoming a slut and the daughter defends herself in the beginning knowing in some sense who she is. I found it ironic that the mother states that she should be confident to know that she will wont let the baker push her around yet the mother does that as well as teaching her women’s roles and a women’s status. The mother degrades her daughter by telling her that hanging out with wharf-rat boys will make her slut and that see is bent on becoming one. Teaching these warnings becomes the girl’s identity. The mother tells her daughter how to sweep, clean, a get rid of unwanted babies making them all part of everyday life. The mother in a way suggests that becoming a slut is part of everyday life if she includes abortions just as easily as she includes how to clean and wash. The mother is aware of gender roles telling her daughter “don’t swat down to play marbles-you are not a boy.” Her tone through out is very critical of her daughter. Through out the story the mother is the one narrating what she expects from her daughter, then what her daughter does talk she it in italics.

imitation

go to school;
stay in school;
Keep up your grades;
dont fight with your sisters;
take care of your sisters;
stay in touch with your family;
always be there for your family;
help out around the house;
always listen to your parents;
dont get into fights;
make a lot of money;
go to church;
listen to your elders;
learn to sew;
learn to cook;
clean up the house;
set the table;

Girl/ literary terms

Looking at Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl”, I noticed that a particular literary term used was a Rhythm. Through out the story the mother and daughter relationship was particularity made up of the mother being very socially aware of their socioeconomic status. The mother wants her daughter to know certain women’s roles in order to live everyday life. The mother uses command verbs like wash, cook, and soak but also explains in the text “This how you sweep a corner; this is how you sweep a whole house; this is how you sweep a yard.” Not only does the mother talk to her daughter about cleaning and cooking but also how to react in social situations like how to react if someone smiles at you that you do and don’t like. That particular passage on how to sweep and smile goes into a rhythm that the mother knows first hand how to react to. She must have gone through the experience of getting rid a baby, bullying men as well as being bullied by.  The mother seems to have acceptance of her socioeconomic status and wants her daughter to be just as aware. Another Literary term used is verbal irony shown in the last phrase in the story, “always squeeze bread to make sure it’s fresh; but what if the baker wont let me feel the bread?; you mean to say that after all you are really going to be the kind of woman who the baker wont let near the bread?” The mother finally achieves her goal for the daughter to be socially aware of her position in society yet wonders why her daughter feels a like the baker wont let her squeeze the bread, shaking her confidence she once had. The mother throughout the story tells her that she’s bent on becoming a slut and the daughter defends herself in the beginning knowing in some sense who she is. I found it ironic that the mother states that she should be confident to know that she will wont let the baker push her around yet the mother does that as well as teaching her women’s roles and a women’s status. The mother degrades her daughter by telling her that hanging out with wharf-rat boys will make her slut and that see is bent on becoming one. Teaching these warnings becomes the girl’s identity. The mother tells her daughter how to sweep, clean, a get rid of unwanted babies making them all part of everyday life. The mother in a way suggests that becoming a slut is part of everyday life if she includes abortions just as easily as she includes how to clean and wash. The mother is aware of gender roles telling her daughter “don’t swat down to play marbles-you are not a boy.” Her tone through out is very critical of her daughter. Through out the story the mother is the one narrating what she expects from her daughter, then what her daughter does talk she it in italics. 

transitions

Addition- Finally, again, then, equally important, finally, second, still, too, last, in the first place, first

Comparison- also, in the same way,likewise,similarly

Contrast-although,yet,still, though,on the other hand,and yet, at the same time,despite that,even so,even though,for all that,however,in contrast,in spite of, instead, otherwise, nevertheless, on the contrary, otherwise

emphasis-indeed,in fact, of course,certainly

example of illustration- after all, for example, for imstance, thus, trulu, that is,namely,specifically, it is true, in other words,indeed, in fact, in conclusion, even

Summary- all in all, altogether, in brief,

Rough draft of formal paper

Jorden Castanon

3/7/11

English 1B

Professor Stacey Knapp

The American Teen

In order to convey Sonny as a normal teenager in the novel The Flowers by Roberto Gilb, it has to be established what normal is and considered what the standard teenager is. “The cultural standards that define normal behavior for any society are determined by that society itself”(Haviland.) The characters that surround Sonny shape his character making him typical and normal teenager in some aspects. In my teenage years I think the influences that impacted my life could be considered normal and typical due to the standards that were socially acceptable.

            It’s almost a right of passage for every teenager to engage in certain risky behaviors. Without those behaviors we cant grow and learn. From a young age we learn right from wrong and we test those limits. Sonny engaged in standard teenage behavior such as stealing dirty magazines, getting into fights, experimenting with drugs, alcohol, and sex. Most of these experiments seemed to be with one of the tenants, Cindy. Sonny’s first experience hanging out with Cindy he states, “I was confused, smelling her marijuana so much it almost felt like I was already smoking it with her. I also kind of hated being around drunk people-her now too-and also, maybe, because she was getting real close to me, fast”(87.)  Throughout the book Sonny never really over abused the experience with alcohol or drugs. I think he saw the effects it had on Cindy, his mom, and Cloyd and was not interested on how it made them act. At that age I occasionally drink but I never liked the way I lost respect for people who went overindulged in drugs and alcohol. The town where I grew up it was socially acceptable amongst the teens to experiment with drugs because that’s what most of the town did in order to escape the boredom.  In order to relieve stress and take a brake from the pressures of everyday life an outlet has to be created otherwise it might drive a person to insanity. Sonny’s outlet was the bowling alley owned by Zuniga’s.  Sonny projects his feelings about the alley by stating, “Every time I came here, I wondered why I didn’t bowl more, and why I didn’t just eat here every single day. I guess maybe I was kind if embarrassed. To not have friends, to not want to be home…. I liked bowling. I liked throwing the ball, aiming. I liked the smash of it”            (145.)  Sonny is the standard teen who has feelings of being distant towards their parents; at the alley he can escape those sensitivities. He can eat, relax, and do what he enjoys which is bowling. In a sense bowling is therapeutic for Sonny and he receives the feeling of being wanting from the Zungia’s. At the same age I never really enjoyed being home with my parents. My friends and I would usually hangout at the Skate Park or river park mostly because we could just relax there and meet up with different friends. At the park we could swim, bike ride, and just enjoy being young. Like Sonny we had chores, but at the same time we could do what he did, which was leave right after and stay gone. School was long and stressful and going home to parents who are equally as stressed sometimes didn’t seem too smart.

            Thankfully I never had to experience anything as intense as riots in my time as a teenager. Riots are something the standard teenager wouldn’t be expected to go through. For Sonny it was inevitable because the surrounding situation of racism and inequality were especially high and in that society it wouldn’t be abnormal. People like Bud and Cloyd are examples of why these riots started. They couldn’t learn how to be flexible and fully tolerant. An example of this is when Cloyd has a fight with Silvia because Bud said he saw a black man in Pink’s apartment. Cloyd declares, “You know there’d be hell to pay! You know it!... That just wouldn’t be right....I didn’t rent to one of them! Wouldn’t either (180.) Bud and Cloyd are closed-minded are set in their ways which helped fuel the fire’s of the riots. I grew up in a small town were it was predominately Caucasian. There was a small mixture of Mexicans, African Americans, and other races. It sometimes caused some gang violence among these races but never riots. A few gang fights took place where some innocent people were caught in the crossfire but never riots that engulfed the whole town. My sister first hand experienced one of the fights that broke out were a person wielding a chainsaw tried to kill someone else, for which she told me was pretty intense. She happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time but in a riot it takes the whole city over. Luckily in her situation the police came and it eventually stopped. In a riot it can’t be predicated when the anarchy will end.

            Sonny’s experiences as teenager are standard in relation to where he lives. Looking at the tenants surrounding him those behaviors he engages in are normal because all tenants in some aspects are messed up in their own ways. They have their standards of what’s socially acceptable and the problems they have are tolerated by one another.  Bud, Pink, Cloyd, and Cindy all have encouraged Sonny to drink. At that age my friend’s parents, adults, or stepparents never offered any type of alcohol. It something now that wouldn’t be socially acceptable. It does depend because I’ve seen first hand in some areas where the adults take a lack of interest in their kids lives and don’t care how other parents influence their kids. It really depends on where you live and what the society around you accepts out of a teen to determine if the teen is average or normal. 

Idea paper

I picked Reader Response as my critical theory for the Formal paper. I would like to explore if Sonny is the typical American teen. There's a lot to go off of that because it was only three years ago that I was a teen.  My sister is currently in high school so first hand as well how the American teen behaves and interacts with one another. I decided to look at it in a sociological point of view by defining what is typical and normal. I looked at the risky behaviors I took as a teenager and the ones Sonny did. I also looked at why Sonny went to the Zungia’s to bowel. I’m going to organize it by my experiences, quotes from the novel, and a sociological perspective. 

what do you think sonny is going to do with the money?

I think Sonny is going to run away with the money he has saved.  Cloyd and his mother found out that it was Sonny taking the magazine telling him to go to his room. Sonny claims, “I was relieved to do that. Well, only to not stand there and wait for what was going to happen. Mostly to go see if they knew about the money I stole. I knew if that’d been found-well, I wouldn’t have gotten to go to this room”(191.) I think that if Cloyd would have also found out about the money things like sonny said would go down a lot differently. Sonny isn’t happy were he’s at, and with the money he saved I would have enough to take off but not live off of forever. I think Sonny has a good idea of this and stays because of that and maybe of his mother and Nica. I think its only a matter of time however until Sonny has had enough with his situation and splits. It seems that his mother doesn’t really care about how Sonny is doing with living there but is caught up in her own distractions from being unhappy at the Flowers building. She is never really there to help raise him; he’s mostly on his own. If I were personally in Sonny’s situation I would definitely stop stealing because people will definitely start to take notice. I would try to save as much as possible and leave. 

examine female character, feminist perspective

Nica’s character has always stayed the same in the sense that is a closeted girl made that way because she has to stay at home taking care of her younger brother. Sonny throughout the novel tries to help her get out of this situation her parents put her through but is obligated to be the parent. From a feminist perspective she would we seen as put into a certain gender role and oppressed by not only her father but as well as her mother. Nica is forced not to go to school, to watch her brother, and iron and make lunches. Her stepfather yells at her if she doesn’t iron correctly. Her stepfather talks down to her saying “Didn’t she know how to put starch with the can? Was she a goat? Was pushing a button too hard?”(176.) The way he talks to her is talking to a person that doesn’t respect or care about. Nica stays at home to help out her family but is put down and verbally beaten into submission by her step dad. She is put into a traditional home where the women takes care of the house and family but it’s a lot of pressure to put onto a little girl. Her mother is said to be tired after work but is never there to stand up for her daughter. Nica is forced to deal with these emotions herself and left alone crying behind the sound of her radio put low because her step dad would have turned it off it was too high.

critique of passage employing reader response theory

Pink takes Sonny out in the Bel Air for a quick driving lesson in order to befriend Sonny as well as get information. Sonny is a little taken back that Pink is willing to give the car for free in return that he keeps his ears wide-open to his step daddy. Before Sonny agrees Pink lets Sonny get a test run of the car. Sonny states “the truth was that it was a stick shift and, though I’d barely driven a car one time, I’d especially never shifted a four-speed. I can personally feel what Sonny was going through trying to get the car started and going” (139.) At that same age I was learning how to drive and like Sonny I had only tried to drive a car once before my sister took me out in her car, which was a stick shift. My sister kept telling me its all about feeling what the engine needs and taking it slowly and of course like Sonny I felt I was horrible and wasn’t going anywhere. Later I found I just need more practice and eventually got it. My mother ended up giving me her old car but never wanted anything in return. I think that keeping Sonny’s ears open to what Cloyd says is going to be important to find out more about Pink’ character and Cloyd’s. Clearly both Cloyd and Pink have an interest in each other since they both constantly ask about what the other one is up to. 

metacognitive reflection on your own reading habits

Reading is something I have always enjoyed but I have a tendency to get distracted easily but what’s going on around me. I try to get my reading done during the weekend because I usually have to work throughout the week. On my breaks from work I usually will bring the assigned reading book but my breaks are only 10 minutes. Though when I do take the time to read I try establish good reading habits like underlining words, mostly the ones in Spanish that I don’t know and keeping my laptop handy to translate. I’ve been trying to take my book with me everywhere I go by putting it in my purse. I also have been making a habit of reading during my breakfast and lunch to try to get through as many pages as possible. Having a laptop so close can also be a distraction. I’ve had some difficulty trying to constantly be writing in my book. I usually try to stay away from that because in the back of my mind I think I have to sell back the book but since its required to make notes in along the text, that probably won’t happen. It’s been a while since I’ve had an English class and gotten into the practice of good reading habits but what I think it comes down to is setting priorities. It also has helped by reading other people blogs and seeing how they establish their reading habits. 

Journal prompt pg50-100 Pick one scene

The scene from The Flowers that I can most relate to would have to be from when Pink tells Sonny that he had been watching him pick weeds that his advice was that he needed a beer (63).  My grandmother used to watch over my sisters and me after school. Most of the time she would let us play but other times she would say that she wanted us to build character and tend to her rose garden. Her back yard was full of roses with thorns and weeds. She would put us to work telling us we would get paid afterwards for which she always seemed to forget. We worked for hours pulling weeds and pruning dead flowers. My father would come to pick us up from work and she how exhausted we were after and take us out for a “beer”, which was more like root beer and junk food. Like Pink he would offer us to take turns driving. It was a big thrill for us because the whole time with our grandmother delegating what work needed to be done to her garden was brutal. My grandmother always had a strong work ethic and wouldn’t rest until she was sure that we knew what manual labor was. From those days on I had a little more appreciation for my dad because he lived with my grandmother and knew first hand how intense she was about working. I think the author’s intention for this passage was to further explain Pink’s character and relationship to Sonny. The only male influence he has is Cloyd, for which Sonny seems not to care for. I think the passage influences the novel because it sets up a relationship between Sonny and Pink that will probably grow stronger through the novel. Though at the same time Pink offers Sonny to drive after he’s been drinking which isn’t the best idea and offers him more beer when they get to Victors Auto Wrecker. It the man behind the cash register of the auto shop to offer him a coke instead of beer saying “you don’t want to be getting too used to no drinking at your age. You don’t let this crazy cat lead you into wrong”(67).  Though I feel like the warning he gave sonny was more playful than being extremely serious. I personally similar to my personal experience because I know how first hand how picking weeds seems like a job that will never end but different in the sense that I feel my grandmother was in a odd way trying to teach us something were as Cloyd was looking for cheap labor. I also this experience was a little different from Sonny’s in the sense that my father gave us root beer not actual beer and was more responsible to not let us think it was ok to be drinking and driving. I think that both experiences are similar in the sense that after dealing with annoying labor there was someone there to feel empathetic and wanting to do something nice.

Response to Questions 1&3, From the First 50 pgs

The passage I found most difficult to interpret is on page nine, after Sonny was wounded in the chest and the man trying who broke down the door took off.  My assumption is that Sonny is talking about hearing his mother on the phone. Though I feel like you’re never actually sure because he referees to the person he dreads hearing over the phone as “her.” Sonny wonders who she is talking to and when after the call she has when she would be leaving. Sonny emphasizes on how much he dreads hearing the phone by comparing it “waiting on the school bell, jumping at how loud and always expecting.” He interprets that when he over heard brief moments of silence something bad was going to happen.  Which may prelude to the situation Sonny and his mother are in currently in the book, which is living with Cloyd.  He later describes that he tries to just forgot the words his mother says by letting them “disappear into a hole that was bigger than any room I been in.”  The next passage jumps suddenly to meeting Cloyd Longpre and Sonny’s first impressions of Cloyd. The meeting of Sonny and Cloyd seems to be part of the book since later his mom and Cloyd marry and then move in with Cloyd. The passage before seems significant in the sense that the reader sees the relationship Sonny and his mother has as well as the type of men she dates. It seems important to know what kind of mother she is as well as the men she dates because the one before Cloyd beat the crap out of Sonny. If she tends to date men who would do that to her son then there could be a chance that Sonny could be in another abusive household. What I found difficult to interpret was the significance of the passage in between Sonny getting hurt and meeting Cloyd. Though it seems its not only this passage that difficult to interpret but the rest of the book as well when there is gaps in-between significant events that aren’t really fully explained.  My question is when does Sonny ever fully explain where his father is? When does he talk about his mother getting married to Cloyd? Or when does he explain what his mother says about the situation of her ex coming over and beating the crap out of Sonny? In page 18, Sonny asks why Cloyd and what was she thinking? He could tell that she didn’t like him, and wanted to hear her tell him a story that made sense. He describes that he was older than her in a way that isn’t about years; he just wanted to hear something practical.  My prediction is that there is definitely going to be some confrontations between Sonny and Cloyd.  Mostly because Sonny doesn’t care much about the guy and is shown hysterically by wanting to try to learn French and go to France to see Notre Dame just to mess with him. 

I am

I am Jorden Castanon.  I was born in San Jose and lived there for 7 years, then I moved to Red Bluff. I moved three years ago back to the bay area and at the moment I'm attending San Jose City College and Gavilan . I'm finishing my AA this year and also pursuing a career as an EMT. I have three sisters. My oldest sister goes to college at Chico State. I try to visit her when possible as well as my mother's side of the family and old friends I went to high school with. I have an  interest in reading and writing. Over the summer I've been reading The Fountainhead and am half way through with it, so far its a really good book. I like music and going to shows. Overall I like being in chill and unstressfull environments.