Cheap Homework Help-Essay Assignment #5: “Sometimes The Rain” by Benjamin Alire Saenz
Essay Assignment #5: “Sometimes The Rain” by Benjamin Alire Saenz
From the short story collection Everything Begins and Ends in the Kentucky Club
Due Wednesday, April 25, 2018
From the prompt below and write a well-organized, well-developed, correct essay. The essay should be:
At least 3 pages in length, but no more than 4 pages in length.
Formatted in MLA format which means:
the margins of the pages are 1 inch
double-spaced
the typeface should be Times Roman or Arial and be at 12pt
The first page is set up to include your name, professor’s name, class section and date (in that order) in
the upper left hand margin (on the first page only).
Each page numbered in the header in the upper right hand corner of each page with student’s last name.
Ex. Rice-Gonzalez 1 (for first page), etc.
Prompt:
In Benjamin Alire Saenz’s “Sometimes the Rain,” the character Brian Stillman experiences a lot of violence at the
hands of his father who he describes as “a piece of work.” Whether his father has beaten him before the time that
Neto picks him up from the side of the road is ambiguous; nevertheless, it is fair to assume that their relationship has
been antagonistic for some time.
Neto, too, has experienced abuse from his father. When Neto tells his father that his car is a piece of shit the father
responds, “That piece of shit is worth more than you are” (128). Neto also shares about “the time your father
whispered that you were no good – even as he lay on his death bed” (126).
Neto, the narrator and Brian Stillman in ‘Sometimes the Rain’ are dealing with different manifestations of grief. Neto
feels like he doesn’t have many friends or and thinks that doesn’t have people who truly care about him. Brian is
navigating his own pain and grief that spring from his secret of being gay. When the narrator is comforting Brian
Stillman, he says “I think he’d held in his tears his whole life” (148).
Continuing with “Sometimes the Rain,” it is clear that grief is a critical element in the plot as well. “My father’s grief
and dissapointment turned to rage. The rage was pointed in my direction” (126). Part of the plot of the story is the
relationships the character’s have with their fathers and the grief it causes.
The poet and scholar Reginald Harris writes in his review of Everything Begins and Ends in the Kentucky Club,
“Ultimately Sáenz reveals that his true subject is survival, and trying to live through pain, grief and loss.”
Identify and explain how the characters try to cope with and live through the pain, grief and loss, and in their lives.
Essay is due by start of class on Wednesday, April 25, 2018 either hard copy or via e-mail to cricegonzalez@hostos.cuny.edu.
