Passage:
"Dead Deer," I said. What I didn't like even more were the three rifles on each wall rack. Lots of rifles. I could count them if I wanted. More than the heads, more than the plaques and the licenses. I didn't know about rifles except that anyone would know. I couldn't imagine what anyone had so many for. So many I couldn't look at them because they looked back to. I could see the dead heads below them. I felt like one of them, staring away and watching at the same time.
This is the around the third time that Sonny talks about Cloyd and his hunting. I picked this passage because its very stereotypical for the "bad guy" to hunt and have guns. Cloyd is the big bad boyfriend and he has guns and kills animals. In the book it makes him the superior to everyone else and I don't think Sonny is actually afraid of him but he doesn't want to mess with Cloyd as of right now. I guess I felt the need to pick out this passage to defend who I am. I am a hunter and I know well enough that it can be seen as something different to different people, but I know that myself and my family are nothing like Cloyd. Although I'm not offended by Cloyd, the potential bad man, being the hunter who has taxidermied animals on his walls, I wanted to point out that were not all like him.
I think your post is interesting, because you can relate with one of the characters in the book who is a hunter, being a hunter yourself. I also believe there has to be a reason why Dagoberto chose to make Cloyd a hunter. I don't think Cloyd's hunting makes him superior to Sonny and his mother. I think it is stated to show how much different Cloyd is then them, and how they don't fit into his life. I also believe the guns might be present to provide the reader with further suspense, because it makes you think how any argument between Sonny and Cloyd could be escalated by the presence of so many firearms.
ReplyDeleteI as well find this interesting and agree with your post Ali. Not all hunters are the way that Cloyd is portrayed in the book. However, they are still out there. But i have an alternate reason why Dagoberto put Cloyd in as the hunter, because he wants to show the Cloyd always gets what he wants. He will hunt down what he wants. In this case its his "Mexican Wife" Silvia. He then thinks to himself that he owns her. How he has owned or claimed the many lives of the animals he has on his wall. The guns are meant for the fear factor so that Silva and sonny will not leave, but also feel protected. That is what i think Dagoberto is going for, and trying to say.
ReplyDeleteI think this writing prompt passage was a terrific oppertunity for you, Ali, to express exactly what you have. The fact is that hunting is typically a stereotypical hobby/sport; and while I dont personally hunt, I do have many people in my life, you included, who do hunt. And the thing is, not a single one of my friend's who hunt fit that sterotypical role placed upon them by society. I find it almost ironic that our novel continues to allow the notion that hunting is a "tough guy" sport. Also they continue to portray the "bad guy" type character as a hunter.
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