It's not finished but this is what I have so far...
In the novel Los Flores by Dagoberto Gilb, we are introduced to one main female character named Silvia. Silvia is portrayed as your typical housewife. Her roles in the home are mainly to cook, clean, and watch after her son, Sonny. This “stay at home” housewife is what is expected from Silvia, while her husband Cloyd is gone all day at work making money. Silvia is made out to look like one of the weaker characters in the novel who has to depend on her husband for everything. Silvia is anything but independent, at least that is how we perceive her. She isn’t as helpless as everyone seems to think. Silvia is good at using what she’s got, such as, her looks and sex appeal to get exactly what she wants, even if it means living in the shadow of her husband. Silvia is far from perfect but does her best to survive in a man’s world. This paper will follow the feminist critical theory.
Silvia plays a significant role in Sonny’s life. She is Sonny’s mother and the first woman he will ever love. Silvia and Sonny’s relationship is crucial, yet it turns out to be a weak and dysfunctional relationship. She is very distant from Sonny. At the beginning of the novel, it seems as if she pays no attention to Sonny. Silvia comes off as self-centered and cares for nothing but herself and her well-being. Sonny talks about her saying she is never home, always going out with her friends and when she is home it’s only for a short time. Sonny said “It was that my mom, if she wasn’t at her job, was out on dates and whatever. And sometimes she’d get in so late I wouldn’t be awake. That was better for me than when she was home, because when she was home, though I lived there and slept there, it was better to be inside a neighbor’s house than pissing her off” (5). When Sonny talks about Silvia it seems that she takes no interest in her son’s life. Silvia is too caught up in her own world, whether it is because of dating or her job. When Silvia brings Cloyd home to meet Sonny for the first time, Cloyd starts asking Sonny questions about himself and his interests. Silvia joins in on the conversation and says “’Maybe he likes baseball… Don’t you mijo?’ She had no idea. We never talked nothing about me” (12). This quote goes to show how disconnected Silvia is from Sonny, and it’s obvious knowing that Silvia is not around to take care of Sonny. By being absent she fails to do her motherly tasks of nuturing him, giving him advice, and teaching him right from wrong.
Silvia isn’t your average mother figure. Sonny describes his mother to be somewhat of a sexual object, “I was always seeing how men looked at her… How pretty she was in the way men are flipping through pages of dirty magazines” (10). It is obvious that Silvia is desirable to men, for example, Cloyd. When Silvia sits next to Cloyd he can’t help but to admire her, “He looked up at her like he was the luckiest man because her warm body was next to him, thank you, thank you Lord. She made her eyes go like she’s so flattered, and you’re welcome” (13). Through out the novel people such as, Bud and his wife show some sort of admiration for Silvia. They both speak about how beautiful and good looking she is. No matter how distant Silvia and Sonny were, it was easy to see that Sonny loved his mother very much and thought very highly of her. Even Sonny took notice of how his mother always kept herself up and looking good no matter the occasion when he says, “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" (76). Once Cloyd and Silvia got married, it seemed as if Silvia tried to make a change in her relationship with Sonny. Now that she’s married she doesn’t have to worry about bringing in any income, having a job, and she’s not going out as much as she used to. She definitely has more free time on her hands. It seems as if she wants a relationship with Sonny now that she is married. She makes more of an effort to communicate with Sonny and she’s always asking him “what’s wrong?” yet she still fails to spend much time, if any at all, with him.
Silvia doesn’t seem to be the most sincere person. What were her reasons for marrying Cloyd? Was she really in love or did she do it for financial stability? It’s obvious she is not happy with her situation, but as long as Cloyd continues to support and provide for her and Sonny, she doesn’t mind putting up with this man she married. It’s as if Silvia and Sonny are always walking on egg shells around Cloyd. She does her best to make sure nothing is said or done to make him angry. Silvia is always trying to convince herself, as well as Sonny, that it’s good they’re living with Cloyd now. Silvia’s heart isn’t in the marriage. She is always questioning herself as well as reassuring herself that she made the right decision moving into Cloyd’s apartment.
You have some interesting ideas here, but I'd like you to re-read the feminist theory and narrow your focus to include a more critical look at these ideas through the lens of feminism. A feminist is on the lookout for female oppression and usually the culprit is patriarchy. We definitely have that going on in this relationship, however, as you point out Sylvia complicates this dynamic by "...using what she’s got, such as, her looks and sex appeal to get exactly what she wants..." If you are going to write from the feminist perspective, then you would need to change your stance and critically examine how Sylvia's actions would be viewed by a feminist--not just by the other characters in the novel. Perhaps clenching your fist and shaking it at the computer screen will help you get into the feminist mind set:)A Feminist would have much disdain for the way Cloyd treats Sylvia, but a feminist would also be very disappointed in Sylvia's 'playing along' with Cloyd's patriarchal game. Instead of going out "shopping," why isn't she trying to economically free herself from this oppressive relationship? You do a good job of pointing out how Sylvia is usurping some of Cloyd's patriarchal power by manipulating the situation to her advantage, but a feminist would also be interested in how her actions are dictated by her fragile economic condition as a single-parent and how the gender power hierarchies in the novel seem to favor the male gender. Although I think this is the paper you may have originally set out to write, your focus drifts into her role as a mother and the affect she has on Sonny. This is also interesting, but I think an altogether different topic then what you state in your thesis: Sylvia does her best to survive in a man's world.
ReplyDeleteAt this point you need to decide if you want to focus on how Sylvia's relationship effects her son or on the feminist perspective of her character in the novel. One more feminist question related to your paper: If a woman's only power stems from her looks, then how many women have power and how limited is this power?
As you go back through make sure you only have one topic per TEA and that each topic you bring up is fully developed.
For example:
New Topic;New TEA: When Silvia brings Cloyd home to meet Sonny for the first time, Cloyd starts asking Sonny questions about himself and his interests.
"By being absent she fails to do her motherly tasks of nuturing him, giving him advice, and teaching him right from wrong."
This is your analysis, but it doesn't fit the topic of paragraph two. Also, this point made me think that next I was going to get an example of how she doesn't teach him the difference between right and wrong (like when he is arrested or steals).