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.