In the Flowers by Dagoberto Gilb, Sonny appears to be making progress in school even though he makes negative comments like ‘I wanted to fucking moan!’ (pg 122), when the subject is brought up. In the beginning of the book Sonny’s grammar and slang are difficult to understand. On page 4 is an example of the composition of his typical sentences: ‘That judge, she wouldn’t have laughed, and then I don’t think my mom would’ve laughed no more, and she never laughed as much as me.’ But by page130 his thoughts are coming across more like poetry:
I saw it.
Or it’s what I didn’t.
The darkness was not light.
The darkness was what might be a wall
And might be a bottomless hole.
It was not light.
No sun and no moon.
Death was not light
And the light,
The light was what could be seen.
Light was what shined
and sparkled
and was happiness,
And death was like sleeping alone—
-it was not light.
Light could be still
and be watched
Or could pass under
like a freeway was under you
And you sat there.
It was a spray
and flow in the face
When you couldn’t not notice it
And you didn’t always
unless it came at you
so hard.
Maybe he was just in love and the poetry reflects that.
224 words
224 words
Oooh. I think Sonny's grammar does improve throughout the novel. The only thing I could think of to contradict your statement is that he was younger at the beginning of the novel than he was at the end. We have seen him mature throughout the novel, and in this maturing process he's sure to have become more confident. I believe some of the jumbled grammar has to do with Dagoberto trying to write in a way that would resemble our thought process, or the thought process of a fourteen year old boy. I believe it is all intentional. It keeps things interesting.
ReplyDelete