lydias essay 3

Lydia Schulz
English 9
Mr. H. Salsich
7, October 2008
Give and Take
Some people would say that our lives are defined by the moments that make up a life, not the life as a whole. Those moments include everything from the best day of your life to the worst day of your life. They include the high points and the low points, the gains and the losses. Loss and gain (repeated throughout essay) was a major contributor in the stories of both “Sonny’s Blues” and “Winter Dreams”, and affected the characters’ lives in an immense way.
In “Sonny’s Blues,” the narrator, Sonny’s brother, lost and gained a great quantity of things. Fortunately for him, he seemed to gain a great deal more than he lost. For example, although the narrator lost his brother to the world of drugs, when Sonny was finally clean again, it helped him to gain a much better understanding of Sonny as a person. After Sonny invited him to the place where he was playing, the narrator not only realized Sonny’s talent as a musician, but he realized Sonny’s pain and he realized how much of his soul Sonny pours into the music. There were also many physical losses in this story. The two brothers’ father lost his brother in a car accident, but the narrator has suffered even greater losses. Both of his parents are gone and while his brother was in jail, his daughter Gracie died, though he is still making it through life and understanding that though he has lost so much, he will gain many things in return. I think the most significant gain in this story was the narrator getting a better relationship with his brother. When Sonny invited his brother to see him play, their bond grew stronger than ever because Sonny was finally opening up. This is a defining moment in the narrator’s relationship with Sonny. Though this story could be viewed as tragic, I think otherwise because of the connection Sonny made with his brother.
In “Winter Dreams” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the main character, Dexter Green, also did a lot of gaining and losing. When first reading the story, one might think that Dexter’s loss of Judy was his biggest, but in reality, the losses he suffered after Judy were much greater. He was just drifting through life without much purpose, sapped of all motivation when he lost his only love. With nothing to do but mope, Dexter’s life started to become insignificant. When Dexter had Judy, he put so much of himself into their relationship, much like Sonny did with his music. Dexter was in bliss when he had Judy, but was so empty when he lost his love that he lost his ability to really and truly love. Though he became thoroughly depressed, Dexter gained something out of his undesirable situation. As we know, “men like Dexter Green do not cry easily,”(Burhans) and instead, Dexter became much more guarded. After Judy, that caution made him play it safe with relationships, always wary of someone who might hurt him. Dexter suffered a great loss, the kind that no one should have to endure- the loss of his love and the loss of his identity.
It is better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all. Sonny’s brother and Dexter both know the importance of this because they are people who have experienced both colossal losses and immense gains. They show us that life is a game of give and take, and that eventually, things will even out. All you need is a little patience.