Relationship and development

Relationship

The central relationship of the short story “How to Lose” by Victoria Patterson is that between Natalie and AJ, with several secondary relationships.

Natalie and AJ have a shared experience of losing someone important to them, but in different ways because they each had a different relationship with AJ’s mother, Gina. This comes across in their relationship to each other and their devotion to AJ's mother: “But in private she’s still Aunt Natalie, because they both feel an unspoken devotion to his real mother, no matter how much she fucked up” (ll. 23-25).

Natalie and AJ seem to deal with their grief in very similar ways: “They both hate the school drop-off. Saying goodbye is difficult, more so lately.” (ll. 36-37) They act as a team in trying to deal with loss, but also in other aspects of their life together, and the narration often refers to them together: “Despite everything, they finished the season.” (ll. 96-97). Natalie is both his aunt and a motherly figure for AJ, and she feels the need to protect him: "As soon as she speaks, remorse and pity stir, and she worries that she’s upset him." (l. 111). Furthermore, she is an emotional support for AJ and also proposes practical solutions to his challenges, like buying earplugs for his swimming lessons (l. 68).

AJ has difficulties in trusting Natalie, because he believes she might ...