Rough draft-RR Cloyd

Throughout the story, Sonny is influenced by characters and is also influenced by other people. One of the most influential people is Cloyd. He is an unlikeable person if you really know about him and the way he thinks and acts. He is Silvia’s new husband which makes him Sonny’s stepdad. One of the things that makes Cloyd an unlikeable person is that he always has to be the biggest person in the house, but he does it in manners that are disrespectful to others. He also has ways in which he sees society that are disrespectful, and also racist. I am writing from the Reader Response view and I will explain how the ways of Cloyd influence Sonny.  

When we first met Cloyd, he was trying to get on Sonny’s good side, and also Silvia’s, by asking Sonny what he wanted. Sonny answered by telling him that he wanted to go to Notre Dame in France. Sonny could tell that Cloyd was just trying to get on his Sivia’s good side, “ He was trying to show he was, you know, interested in me...It was a show for my mom” (10). Sonny knew that Cloyd didn’t really care about him from the beginning of the story, he knew that Cloyd was doing it all for Silvia, which is why Sonny came up with the idea of him wanting to go to Notre Dame. Sonny then asks for a French book so that they will think he is serious about it, and it turns out that Sonny learning some French words and phrases are influential to Sonny because later on he uses them when he’s angry in order to crack a smile.

Cloyd’s physical appearance definitely shows who Cloyd really is too. In the first meeting between Sonny and Cloyd, Sonny says Cloyd was wearing a fake blue suit and tie and his hair was pomade oil. Sonny then says, “ I never saw him in one ever again... That also was the only time it [hair] was so neat that you could see the comb lines”(9). We, as the readers, know that Cloyd is definitely not ever nicely dressed up like this, just like he is never this nice to Sonny, except for this first encounter between them. 

We know Cloyd as a man who always wears the same grey suit and we start to see him get more and more angrier with everything as the book goes on. Sonny describes Cloyd in one scene, “Cloyd was already red-eyed, and he was wearing that hick smile I hated the most and swirling that ice cube. He had on his grey work uniform, still starched from laundry, like he hadn’t sweated in it today. His bottle of whiskey was on his office desk like it was his latest trophy, shiny below all of those dead deer with blank marble eyeballs”(88). This is the Cloyd that we, as the readers, know. We know that he is always wearing that same grey suit and drinking his whiskey. The whiskey is influential to Cloyd’s character because he is usually drinking and when he drinks enough, it shows the real side of him, the dark side.

A lot of times it seems like it’s the alcohol that brings out the racist side of Cloyd. He is never racist to Mexicans or any other race, he is only racist to black people. “Bud, have you seen one yet living on our street? Have you seen one black living on any ten blocks around here?... You have not, it’s not likely to happen neither...I own this apartment building, you think I can’t let who I want to live here?”(53). This shows that Cloyd doesn’t like black people and there is no way that he would rent a room to one. We see more racism increasing throughout the story in Cloyd, but the alcohol also brings out the angry side towards Silvia. It seemed like if Silvia didn’t let Cloyd know when she was going out, he would get mad. She was worried about Sonny   not letting Cloyd know that she was, “Please tell him that I left the salsita in the refrigerator...M’ijo, please tell him?...Will you please tell him? For me? Please?”(81) Silvia would never say when she would get back and that’s usually what Cloyd would ask for. 

As the book went on, Cloyd would get angrier with Silvia when she would go out and they would argue about it. Sonny heard some of the arguments, “I was hearing my mom and him out there for too long. They were arguing, and I could make out the words if I let myself, but I didn’t want”(105). We never really know what they argue about, but we can infer that it’s because Silvia goes out because she starts to say that she gets bored at her house and she eventually tries to go out before Cloyd gets home, probably in order to avoid confrontation and more arguments.

Cloyd likes to be in charge of the household by having Sonny do work around the apartment complex. Sonny didn’t mind all of the jobs, just some, like the weeds, “Cloyd was wanting me to chop down weeds on the back side of the building. Everything else was okay, I just didn’t want this job...That he was teaching me to be a man”(63). He uses Sonny as a free labor worker and a way to make it seem like he is his father and he’s teaching him to be a man.   Cloyd tries to control Silvia by keeping her at home all of the time, which is why she doesn’t work, but that’s not what Silvia wants. He admits she gets bored there, which is why she goes out all of the time. Cloyd’s controlling ways make him unlikeable and they really show the kind of person he really is.

When we get towards the end of the novel, we see a side of Cloyd that we never saw before. Sonny stands up to Bud, Cloyd’s friend, by hitting him and trying to beat him up. Bud tosses Sonny around the house, but Sonny doesn’t care and keeps on going. When Cloyd hears about this, he feels bad and goes to talk to Sonny, “We gotta talk. You don’t have to call me sir...It’s about what’s going on. That was wrong. I’m sorry that happened...That was bad, what happened. It was. He shouldn’t of pushed you or hit you...Or threw you, because he could of really hurt you. You’re all right, aren’t you?”(226). This shows Cloyd’s compassionate side. Sonny explains that he was drunk when he was telling him this, “He was drunk, but no glass in his hand”(226). This could explain why he was so compassionate, or could have also been because he was proud that Sonny stood up to someone bigger than him. Right after Cloyd talks with Sonny, he shows him the shotguns he has in the house because of the danger of the riots, so his compassionate side disappears and goes back to the racist side.

Although Cloyd has the one compassionate moment, that can explained by alcohol, he is still an unlikeable person. The racist side that he has whether or not he’s drunk is definitely a problem. He sees black people as a problem, but they’re are just like everyone else. Also, the controlling side he has makes him unlikeable to Sonny and Silvia, his own wife. You can’t have a good family relationship if one is always trying to control all of the other people. The evidence I gave is enough to conclude that Cloyd is definitely is an unlikeable person.