Monday, 25 May 2009 - 7:44 PM EDT

          I think that the narrator’s life is controlled by the fact that he feels he needs to protect and watch out for his brother. He responds to this by trying to make sure that his brother is on the right track and that he’s not doing anything he shouldn’t do. One example of this is when Sonny expresses his desire to join the army or the navy and his brother tells him that’s he crazy to want to do that and tries to convince him not to by reminding him that he hasn’t yet finished school and that he won’t be able to learn how to be a musician in the army.

          I think Sonny is controlled by his need to do something meaningful with his life. I think that he feels a little lost and that he is searching for something to fill his life with. He first does this by learning to play the piano and striving to become a musician and then later by joining the army. I also don’t think that Sonny is aware of himself doing this because I don’t think it’s something he likes to dwell on and I’m not even sure if he realizes that he’s doing it.

Tuesday, 26 May 2009 - 9:23 AM EDT

I think Sonnys past controls a lot of what he does. I think the choices that he makes reflects on how he wants to hide his past and the things that have happened to him. They have dealt with loss and you can tell that it affects them deeply. I think that Sonnys past has made a negative influence on him and he has decided to take the hard road to recover from it. For the narrator, he is trying his hardest to fullfil his mothers wishes and has turned it into a positve thing.

Tuesday, 26 May 2009 - 1:24 PM EDT

I have to disagree with Mikaela's opinion on why the narrarator dewls on the past so much, and what affect this has on his life. I think that the reason the past has a much different effect on his life. I believe that the narrarator wishes that he had made some different decisions in his life and is trying to make up for them by keeping Sonny from making the making the decisions instead of letting him live his own life and figure things out on his own. I guess that in a way he is trying to protect his brother, but I think that he does this more for himself and not for his brother.