Comparing Sonny’s Blues to the Cathedral

1. Is Patrick lonely? In my opinion, I odour as though the boy is lonely, living in such a remote and desolate place, with only his father to spend his period with. For pillowcase Ondaatje says, He was born into a region which did not appear on a map until 1910, though his family had worked there for twenty hears and the land had been homesteaded since 1816. In the school atlas the place is pale green and nameless. The river slips out of an anonymous lake (10-11).Patricks characteristics makes him seem sad or withdrawn from society, for he spends his time gazing out the window searching for bugs. Ondaatje exclaims, He walks back into the bright kitchen and moves from window to window to search out the moths pinioned against the screens, clinging to the brightness Bugs, plant hoppers, grasshoppers, rust-dark mothsthroughout the summer he records their visits and sketches the repeaters (9). I life bad for Patrick, that his only companions ar the bugs flying around his house, i n search for light.Although Patrick does have his father, his dad doesnt pay him any attention, unless they are working together. Ondaatje says, Hazen Lewis was an abashed man, withdrawn from the initiation around him, uninterested in the habits of civilization outside his own focus. He would step up to his horse and assume it, as if it were a train, as if flesh and blood did not exist (15). It would be rough to promote up in that kind of unloving environment. It would be difficult to feel you had to earn your love.For Patricks father, only praises him when they are successful at work. For example, Ondaatje says, They pay off to run back home, looking behind them to see if the cow is following. The boy gasps, If she goes into the ice again Im not doing a thing Neither am I yells his father, laughing (16). The only part in the story when the boys Father demonstrates warmth and kindness towards his son, is when they save the cow from drowning. The fathers introverted attitude, mak es me principal how he became so incredibly withdrawn from society.It makes me wonder what happened to his wife. Did she neglect? Is that the reason why he chooses to act so distant from his son? Does he remind him of her? Patricks absent dumbfound also makes me question if that is the reason why Patrick is so quite and reclusive, like his father. With Patricks mother missing from his life and Patricks father uncommunicative, it causes him to live a real lonely, unhappy, and solitary life. 3. Patricks unloving and solitary environment is the reason for his unhappiness.