Rough Draft

                              Reader Response: Sonnys Character & Life
               As a teenager we all go through many different things in life. Sonny has a pretty tough life but I think all in all he tries to make the best out of it. I can relate to a particular part of Sonny's life since my parents divorced when I was young. I too ended up with a stepdad that I didn't care for. I can also relate on another level, being a single parent. 

               In the novel The Flowers Sonny's mom is never home in the beginning. She is either at work or just out. ''It was that my mom, if she wasn't at her job, was out on dates or whatever. And sometimes she'd get in so late I wouldn't be awake." (5) Then she marries a man named Cloyd who from the get go Sonny isn't fond of. Sonny thinks he's just like all the other men in his mom's life and will not stick around . He thinks it's all a joke. "My mom was dressed too pretty to take serious, shampoo in her hair and body lotion smell, and she was trying to hard to sound happy. Nobody'd believe her except her." (7) Sonny can't imagine his mom being a real mom let alone a wife. He says he "..couldn't imagine her in the kitchen more than like, once a month." (17) While my mom never had multiple men in her life, I can relate to Sonny because I never cared for my step father from the start. I know how tough it was for Sonny to have to "pretend" that life was ok. Even though my stepdad would try his hardest to be nice to my brother and I, I was rude and bratty. My reasoning was different than Sonny's. My reason was that he wasn't my dad and never would be. We don't know much about Sonny's dad so partly this could posibly be a reason of his as well. Maybe Sonny and I have more in common!

               Sonny's dog Goofy was a major part of his life and was the only thing he felt a real closeness to. When they moved in at Cloyd's Goofy never arrives. Sonny is really sad about Goofy. I think that Sonny didn't like the fact of his mom being married to someone because she never paid much attention to Sonny at all, except to yell at him. I think there was a chance Sonny may have come to like Cloyd until he until Cloyd didn't allow Goofy to live there. He never even really tells Sonny this until Sonny starts to question where his best and closest friend Goofy was. Cloyd and Sylvia tell Sonny that Goofy is ok  and with Cloyd's son, but I think that was something that made it a worse situation....Cloyd's son is a taxidermist! This gives Sonny the feeling that Goofy is dead and makes him hate Cloyd even more. When my stepdad used to try and parent me it would back fire because I'd just rebel more than ever.

               Sonny meets two boys who are twins named Mike and Joe.He likes them and after a while they all become friends. Even though they're friends Sonny never lets himself get very close to them. They have talks and talk about things boys talk about but Sonny always acts like the bigger , more mature guy. He also doesn't tell them EVERYTHING for some reason. I think Sonn'y is like this with them because he has a mom, but she is just has the title. She doesn't treat him like a mom treats their child and this is why Sonny is never at home. He tries to stay away from home as much as possible.