Rough Draft revised

Sonny’s Dreams

In the novel The Flowers, by Dagoberto Gilb, Sonny, the main character and narrator often talks about these experiences where he closes his eyes and sees “colors and lines busting through, flying out and off and cutting in, crazy fires and sparks” (2). Sonny describes these episodes in very detailed language. These descriptions might be mistaken for drug trips or an overactive imagination, but really they are a tool and a defense mechanism to help Sonny deal with the drama in his life. I am writing from the psychoanalytic critical theory perspective to explain how Sonny’s ability to engross himself in his thought and mind is a coping tool and a means for him to deal with the aspects in his life that he has no control over and may not like.

Sonny’s head trips begin right away, on the second page of the book and continue throughout the rest of the novel. Sonny says, “Maybe you could say I would go off to my own world. To me it wasn’t mine, nothing like mine, because it would go black. I loved that color. It was like when the eyes aren’t open but try to see” (2). This is interesting because right off the back Sonny is describing the place in his head that he retreats to. He goes on to explain about how he walks around the random people’s houses picturing living there and how he would be if he lived there. These trances Sonny goes into are a very natural occurrence. Without effort Sonny just slips into a different world in his head and creates a different life than the one he has and lives out that life through his imagination.

Sonny has two different types of experiences when he drifts into his dream-like state of thought. These two types of experiences serve two different purposes in Sonny’s life, but they are both a way for him to cope with the hardships in his life. Sonny’s dream-like fantasies that he creates allow him to play out what he would want to happen if he made certain choices. This type of episode helps Sonny to cope with the aspects of his life that he is unhappy with by giving him a way to escape reality and live, for a few moments, in the wonderful and exciting creation in his head. An example of this type of dream is on page two in the text when Sonny has broken into a random person’s house and is imagining what it would be like to live in the shoes of that person. He closes his eyes and sort of just drifts off into his mind. Sonny describes this head trip “like it was a music that didn’t make sound but was making a story. Not a regular story…one that didn’t have nothing to do with people or places you’ve seen [sic]” (2). This type of daydream Sonny creates is to abstract and detach himself from the issues he really needs to confront. Instead of acknowledging what is going on in his life, whether it be the struggle he faces accepting Cloyd, or his lack of attention due to his mother’s ignorance, Sonny skews his issues by pretending like they do not exist.

Another fantasy Sonny creates is when he imagines what Tino looks like and how he would be able to beat him up if a situation became dangerous. Sonny describes his vision of Tino, “I wish I could see what he looked like exactly because I was already inventing him…I started seeing how I’d fight him if he came at me. I didn’t make him out to be much bigger than me if he was…” (104). Sonny is slipping out of reality and into the world in his head. He is preparing for the worst case scenario with Tino so that he can be ready if need be. Sonny is dealing with his fear of getting caught by Tino with Cindy, so he pictures Tino to be something that he could actually protect himself from. Sonny desires being a strong, masculine figure to those around him. He wants to show Tino who is the better man by engaging in a fight and winning. Also he is rationalizing being with Cindy romantically although she is married, by convincing himself that he is, in fact, a better man than Tino.

The other type of experience that Sonny has is when he closes his eyes and sees colors and shapes and hears sounds that blend together. This is Sonny’s way of relaxing and meditating when he is upset or frustrated. He goes into a sort of trance where he is able to calm down and clear his head. Sonny describes this experience once while he was listening to music. He says, “it was Fourth of July, colors and explosions of colors and lights and shapes, the singers’ voices spinning like planets and moons, getting bigger and smaller, and farther away, and closer, and closer, then over there, and up” (26). When Sonny has these types of episodes he blocks people out. Sonny goes into his head and is able to push out any thought or noises that he hears and that which make him uncomfortable. On page one hundred and five, Sonny demonstrates his ability to push out unwanted noise and use his daydreams to distract himself from situations at home. “They [Cloyd and Sylvia] were arguing, and I could make out words if I let myself, but I didn’t want to. I shut my eyes and went. Sound went into color and shape and I traveled up or down or wherever it was … and the bright lights didn’t make me turn away but stare.” Sonny hears his mom arguing and so he blocks it out. He says “I listened with other ears and I saw with other eyes.” Sonny is leaving his ears and eyes behind so that he can listen and see something different then what is really there.

However, throughout the novel Sonny’s visions cease. Sonny’s character develops and transforms from an imaginative little boy into a realistic adult. As this transformation occurs, Sonny becomes proactive about his dreams and desires. He no longer retreats into his imagination when times get tough, instead he deals with issues head on. Sonny always pictured himself eloping with Nica, but when the moment came, instead of running away from his troubles, Sonny helped Nica to escape from hers, knowing that he needed to return and work through the predicament with his mother and Cloyd despite how much he wanted to be with Nica.

Sonny’s daydreams show how he has developed and matured from a dreamy little boy into an adult. At first, Sonny’s dream-like experiences and fantasies drew him away from his life and struggles and allowed him to keep a clear head by not confronting his pain.  By the end of the book, Sonny no longer escapes into his mind in order to find peace and stability. He grows out of that tendency to retreat into his fantasies and progresses to confronting reality and dealing with uncertainties, anger, frustration, and love.

Journal Entry: Roque

In the short story Uncle Rock, by Dagoberto Gilb, the main character, Erick, struggles with accepting the men his mother dates. One man in particular becomes a greater struggle for Erick to accept as his mother becomes more seriously involved with him. Eventually though, Erick is able to see that his mother is happy, and is tired of new guys coming around so he takes a step in the direction of accepting Roque and becoming okay with his mother’s relationship with Roque.

Erick had watched as many men walked in and out of his mother’s life. The story opens up with Erick describing a morning at his favorite restaurant. Then he mentions a man, and the tone of the story drastically changes from carefree and happy to heavy, bitter, and angry.  The story says Erick would “be sitting there, eating with his mother, not bothering anybody, and life was good, when a man changed it all. Most of the time it was just a man staring too much--- but then one would come over.”The story tells how Erick gets so used to his mother’s routine with men that he is able to predict what will happen, each step of the way, as it happens. The narrator describes Erick giving a play-by-play for the most common conversations his mother has with men.“He’d say something about her earings…then he’d wink at Erick. Such a fine-looking boy! How old is he, eight or nine?” Erick is so used to men hitting on his mother that he can guess how the evening will go. He even can tell the type of guy that his mother would go out with.

At one point,  Erick’s mother is dating an engineer. Erick is a little bit excited about this because he can brag to people that his father figure is smart and has a good job. After a while though, this relationship between Erick’s mother and the engineer ends and Erick’s mother finds a new guy.  At first, Erick is disappointed and a bit embarrassed that his mother is dating Roque because Erick was telling a boy named Albert about how his “father” was an engineer. Erick lets on that “the engineer wouldn’t have mattered if [he] hadn’t told Albert that he was his dad.” Roque sticks around for a while and Erick admits that Roque really makes his mother happy because he “loved her so much--- anybody could see his pride when he was with her.” This is the point where Erick begins to accept Roque.

The final resolution of the story is after Roque had taken Erick and his mother to a baseball game. Erick caught the game ball and as he was leaving the stadium, he got the ball signed by all the players. This was a great moment for Erick until one of the players handed Erick a note for his mother that said “I’d like to get to know you. You are muy linda. Very beautiful and sexy.”Instead of handing this note to his mother, Erick drops it, or tosses it on the ground as he is walking back to his mom and Roque. When he gets to them, he says in a full voice, “Look. They all signed the ball.” This was a huge moment for Erick. Erick was able to let go of the fact that a player from his favorite baseball team wanted to “get to know” his mother better, and instead chose to move forward and communicate with his mother and Roque, even if just saying “Look. They all signed the ball.”

Rough Draft

Rough Draft: The Flowers

In the novel The Flowers, by Dagoberto Gilb, Sonny, the main character and narrator often talks about these experiences where he closes his eyes and sees “colors and lines busting through, flying out and off and cutting in, crazy fires and sparks” (2). Sonny describes these episodes in very detailed language. These descriptions can be mistaken for drug trips or just a crazy overactive imagination, but really they are a tool and a defense mechanism to help Sonny deal with the drama in his life. I am writing from the psychoanalytic critical theory perspective to explain how Sonny’s ability to space out is a coping tool or a means for him to deal with the aspects in his life that he has no control over and may not like.

Sonny has two different types of experiences when he spaces out. He is either imagining himself being something different, like doing something he wouldn’t normally have the guts to do, or he is just spacing out and seeing colors and hearing sounds that don’t have any kind of realistic basis. These two types of experiences serve two different purposes in Sonny’s life, but they are both a way for Sonny to cope with the hardships in his life. Sonny’s dream-like fantasies that he creates are a way for him to escape the life he is living. He is able to play out what would happen if he made certain choices and he gets to create his own endings. This type of episode helps Sonny to cope with the aspects of his life that he is unhappy with by giving him a way to escape reality and live, for a few moments, in the creation in his head. An example of this type of dream is one page two in the text when Sonny has broken into a random person’s house and is imagining what it would be like to live in the shoes of that person. He closes his eyes and sort of just drifts off into his mind. Sonny describes these experiences “like it was a music that didn’t make sound but was making a story. Not a regular story…one that didn’t have nothing to do with people or places you’ve seen” (2). Sonny is craving a change in his life. He is looking for excitement and new thrills by picturing someone else’s life and imagining it being more interesting. He likes to imagine something totally new from his life with new people and new places. Another example of this type of experience Sonny creates is when Sonny imagines what Tino looks like and how Sonny would be able to beat Tino up if a situation with Tino became threatening. Sonny describes his vision of Tino, “I wish I could see what he looked like exactly because I was already inventing him…I started seeing how I’d fight him if he came at me. I didn’t make him out to be much bigger than me if he was…” (104). Sonny is slipping out of reality and into the world in his head. He is preparing for the worst case scenario with Tino so that he can be ready just in case. Sonny is dealing with his fear of being confronted by Tino so he pictures Tino to be something that he could actually protect himself from. Sonny desires being a strong, masculine figure to those around him. He wants to show Tino who is the better man by engaging in a fight and winning. Also he is justifying his romantic feelings for Cindy by convincing himself that he is in fact, a better man than Tino.

The other type of experience that Sonny has is when he closes his eyes and sees colors and shapes and hears sounds that blend together. This is Sonny’s way of relaxing before he deals with a problem .He goes into his little world in his head and he just floats there. He calms down and clears his head. Sonny describes this experience once while he was listening to music. He says, “When I listen to music, it was Fourth of July, colors and explosions of colors and lights and shapes, the singers’ voices spinning like planets and moons, getting bigger and smaller, and farther away, and closer, and closer, then over there, and up” (26). Sonny listens and turns sounds and light into undistinguishable shapes and noises. When Sonny has these types of episodes he blocks people out. Sonny goes into his head and is able to push out any thought or noises that he hears and that which make him uncomfortable.

     Sonny’s zone outs begin right away, on the second page of the book and continue throughout the rest of the novel. Sonny says, “Maybe you could say I would go off to my own world. To me it wasn’t mine, nothing like mine, because it would go black. I loved that color. It was like when the eyes aren’t open but try to see” (2). This is interesting because right off the back Sonny is describing the place in his head that he retreats to. He goes on to explain about how he walks around the random people’s houses picturing living there and how he would be if he lived there. Sonny wants a different life than the one he has and he lives out that desire through his imagination.

Sonny goes off into his own little world inside his head as a way to step back and relax so that he can process and deal with certain situations. This technique of coping is interesting because Sonny is capable of tuning out all outside noises so that he can focus on just one thing. He also tends to combine the outside noises to make new sounds in his head. Those sounds then become a continuous drone playing in his mind that he then uses to relax. Sonny does this in order to concentrate and also in order to escape for a moment from the realities he will have to deal with.

Idea Paper

For my paper I want to write about Sonny’s strange episodes where he blacks out or zones out and goes into his own little world. I think his part of the text was the most interesting to me. I can’t decide exactly what the cause of these episodes are, whether they’re just a defense mechanism, a way for Sonny to clear his head or if something is medically or psychologically wrong with Sonny. I cannot decide if I will be writing my paper through the formalists/structuralist/ new criticism theory perspective or through the psychoanalytic criticism theory perspective. As I start picking out quotes and begin my writing I will be able to figure out which new criticism theory will work the best. I will be asking questions like: what is the purpose of Sonny’s episodes? Are they all the same, or do they differ? What causes them? What effect do Sonny’s episodes have? As I read more about the psychoanalytic criticism I think that I will try and write my paper using that perspective and if I have trouble, then the formalist perspective will be my second choice.

Sonny explains his “dreams” or episodes with a lot of detail. In order to clear his head he makes up different scenarios and decides how he would react if that situation ever occurred in reality. On the second page of the book, The Flowers by Dagoberto Gilb, Sonny is already describing himself spacing out and going off into his own world in his head.  He says, “What would finally come were colors and lines busting through, flying out and off and cutting in, crazy fires and sparks, and it’d come out speeding, and I’d be like a doggie out the window…I’d start to see shapes floating and straightening and wiggling and see it like it was a music that didn’t make sound but was making a story.” I thought this was a really great example of one of Sonny’s experiences. Right off the back, Sonny is describing this place he goes to in his head. In this particular example, before Sonny begins describing his experience, he is talking about sneaking into people’s houses and imagining what it would be like to be that person, living in that house. Throughout the book Sonny describes experiences like this. Many of these zone outs occur when Sonny is imagining himself being something else or doing something that he wouldn’t actually ever do. Another experience Sonny has is while he is listening to music and he describes it like it “was the fourth of July, colors and explosions of colors and lights and shapes, the singer’s voices spinning like planets and moons, getting bigger, and smaller, and farther away, and closer, and closer, then over there, and up” (26). Once again Sonny relates these experiences or visions to music and music being colors. It is really interesting what happens in Sonny’s head when he hears things and those sounds become visuals to him. I think Sonny’s episodes like this are a means of coping and relaxing. I’m still working on finding all of the evidence to support that.

Word Count: 522