Scarlet's Essay #4

Have you ever wondered what you have lost and gained from some experience that has happened to you in your life? In these two books, Sonny’s Blues and Winter Dreams, the main characters lose something special and gain something special as well. In Sonny’s Blues the thing that he won was better than what he lost but in Winter Dreams it is quite the opposite. They both have great gains and sad losses.

In the book Sonny’s Blues the main character of the story, Sonny, loses a lot of things and gains some too. In the story he gains a closer bond from to his brother once Sonny plays his blues for him. They bonded through the music Sonny played and then his brother understood his understand how he could get himself wrapped up in all those bad things. They were upset that he took the path that most kids growing up in Harlem at the time did, de decided to do drugs. I think that the gain that he obtained was much greater that the loss. In the end he won back some of that respect from his brother. Finally getting someone to understand your problems is a wonderful thing, and having it comprehended through music is even more amazing. The protagonist, Sonny, may have lost many things but the thing that he gained made up for them all.

In the short story Winter Dreams, Dexter, the story’s protagonist, also gains and loses a lot of important things. One thing that Dexter lost was the love of his life. He lost Judy Jones. He had a choice between the woman the public wanted him to marry and the woman he loved, but he didn’t take the risk and ended up with a woman he could never truly love. One small thing that Dexter learned was a good life lesson and that is, you can’t always get what you want. It’s something he will carry with himself for the rest of his life. Maybe it’s something that he will teach to everyone he knows and he will be a little bit wiser because of it. Even though he learned a precious lesson, he could have had the love of his life, therefore I believe that what he gained does not make up for what he lost. He could have the only woman he had ever loved. Like Clinton Burhans says in the essay Winter Dreams, ‘Magnificently Attune to Life’, “all his winter dreams, except for Judy Jones, have come true.” The main character Dexter lost something greater than anything he could have gained.

As you now know both of these story’s protagonists have lost and gained something. They both lost something, whether it was a big loss, a miniature loss or a loss they didn’t even notice they lost something. The same goes for the things that they both gained. Overall these main characters had things that they lost or gained.