Timmy's Essay 3

Timmy O’Brien
Mr. Salsich
English 9
22 October 2008

Gambling on Life:

An Essay on the Losses and Gains of Two Short Stories

        During life, many good or bad things can happen. You can lose a close relative or a necessary job, or gain a new relative or some needed real estate (purposeful repetition of four adj-noun combinations). Things like this happen daily all around the globe, but no one but the loser or gainer seems to recognize them. Right now, the losses and gains of Sonny and Dexter Green must be noticed, evaluated, and analyzed.
        In the short story “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin, Sonny experiences some serious losses and gains. In the beginning of the book, Sonny’s life is going down the drain. He has lost his ability to be sober and to stay out of jail, his overall happiness, and he has entered a blue state of mind. He thinks he has nothing in the whole world to live for. However, near the end of the story, everything starts to come back. He stops using for the most part, and starts devoting (FAST) his time to music. He plays the piano in a band in hopes of gaining what he had lost, and he eventually achieves his goal and regains his true self. At the very end, Sonny’s losses and gains seem to equal out. Throughout the course of the story, Sonny loses himself and then finds himself in a different world – the world of music. It brings him back from his depressive state of self-exile, and enables him to recover his body, his mind, and his happiness (purposeful repetition). “Sonny’s Blues” is an ever-changing story of losses and gains.
        In a story called “Winter Dreams” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Dexter Green takes on numerous losses and gains. He loses many things – the main one being his “ability to respond deeply to images of Judy and of their moments together.” (Burhans 16) For example, at the end of the book, he hears that Judy finally married and lost her spark, but he simply cannot care. He desperately wants to feel for her and understand her loss, but something inside him has left permanently. Oppositely, Dexter gains some things as well – mainly perspective on his haves and wants. As he reflects upon his winter dreams, he learns that things look a lot better when they’re just out of your reach. He thinks of Judy regretfully, remembering the moment when he could finally have her hand in marriage, but he declined and went his own way. During the story, Dexter appears to lose a lot more than he gains. He loses his ability to feel emotionally, and gains money, which, if put into perspective, is not equivalent (FAST). Money can be remade, but emotions, once lost, are gone forever. “Winter Dreams” is a meaningful story about feelings, money, and memories, and the balance loses and gains a lot during the course of the story.
        Dexter and Sonny both lose things and gain others during their respective stories. The significant comparison is that the losses and gains are presented in reverse order. Sonny starts with a terrible life, and ends with an enchanted one, but Dexter starts with a good future, and ends up dwelling in his awful past (adj/noun pairs). Overall, these stories show that no matter what is going on in your life at present, what happens in the future can either stop you in your tracks, or make way for brilliance.




Clinton S. Burhans, Jr.. "Winter Dreams: ‘‘Magnificently Attune to Life’’: \
The Value of ‘‘Winter Dreams’’." Short Stories for Students. Ed. Marie Rose Napierkowski. Vol. 15. Detroit: Gale, 1998. eNotes.com. January 2006. 7 October 2008.