Character Description

Sylvia, Sonny’s mother, is very pretty and seems to care a lot about her appearances. Sylvia always seems to be a bit disconnected with Sonny, like as if she remembers and then forgets that she has a son. Sylvia likes to go out with her friends and to dress up and look her best. She also tries to please Cloyd, her husband, by doing things she knows that he likes even though she may not like doing those things. An example of this is cooking. Cloyd brags about Sylvia’s home cooked Mexican meals, but Sylvia really isn’t a very good cook and she usually buys store bought food and then pretends like she cooked it. Sylvia used to yell a lot at Sonny and his older sister. Her anger and domestic violence towards Sonny seems to be misplaced, like maybe she is upset or angry about something else and so she takes it out on Sonny. Sylvia’s relationship with her daughter doesn’t seem to be very good. Just like she seems to forget about Sonny, she also forgets about her daughter, especially since her daughter is no longer living with them.

“My mom didn’t drink beer, I think especially because it was fattening.”(Gilb 72)

            This quote shows that Sylvia values her figure and physical appearance. She doesn’t usually drink beer because that might cause her to gain weight.

“I was thinking of Ceci,” I said. “Don’t you wonder how she is?” I wondered about her, if my mom ever talked to her. She never talked about her, I never asked.” (Gilb 74)

            This shows the relationship between Sylvia and Ceci, Sylvia’s daughter. Sylvia seems to forget Ceci even exsists because she never talks about her or sees her.

“I tried to tell my mom but she didn’t hear me. She wasn’t dressed for listening or like she had been in the kitchen for very long or like she was planning to stay there either.” (Gilb 76)

            This quote shows how Sylvia doesn’t hear Sonny. She is always so distracted or preoccupied with other things that she doesn’t pay attention to her son. Also, this quote shows that Sylvia isn’t much of a kitchen or cooking type of person.

 “It seemed to me she was wearing another new dress, and she was smelling washed and bath-oiled and lotioned and misted, and the high heels were glossier and redder than her lipstick.” (Gilb 76)

            Sylvia loves to dress up and to look beautiful. She goes out and buys new dresses and shoes so that she can look more beautiful. Also, she spends a lot of time working on her appearance. She also likes to go out all dressed up.

             

“She was opening American cans of Mexican salsa. He doesn’t even know I buy este chile at the grocery store,” she told me. “He thinks I make it. He even tells everybody I do.”(Gilb 76)

In this quote, Sylvia is faking her “homemade Mexican cooking” skills. She is going out and buying food from the store and then claiming that she made it because her husband loves home cooked Mexican food. This little white lie of Sylvia’s has grown because Cloyd brags about his wife’s cooking, not knowing that the food is store bought.

“She hadn’t hit me or threatened to since we moved in here.” (Gilb 78)

            Sylvia used to hit Sonny back at their old house. This quote shows that there was violence in Sonny’s home.

“She reached into her purse and handed me a five. “Maybe just go get yourself dinner tonight. He’ll be going out.” What was strange is that she said this like I wasn’t buying my own dinner practically every night. I guess she was so distracted it hadn’t occurred to her to wonder how I did that—how I’d been doing it.” (Gilb 80)

            This quote also demonstrates how clueless Sylvia is about Sonny’s life. She doesn’t really care to ever ask him or clue into the things that Sonny does.

“Cloyd approved of that comment. “Yeah, she is one pretty Mexican gal,” he said. “I am one lucky man, all right.” (Gilb 89)

            Once again, this quote tells about Sylvia’s beauty. Cloyd admires her appearance which could be why Sylvia spends so much time doing her hair or buying new clothes.

Word Count: 721