The mother shares a melancholy expression as she tries so comfort the boy. “But you must to learn to lose, child”, she says firmly. This sentence in the novel, Sounder, shows that people who are in inferior circumstances often lose hope, and accept defeat. If you have been poor and hungry most of your life, then you will probably learn to accept the state of poor living you are in. The boy is still very young, and has retained some of his faith and spirit. However, for the Mother, this may not be the case. She has lived in these conditions for quite a long time, and knows the pain of ¨losing”, as they say in this phrase. This sentence also shows that there are some noticeable differences in the character traits of the boy and his mother. For