Since America was founded, the idea of the American Dream has dominated American Literature. The overall idea of the American Dream is that every United States citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative. “Winter Dreams” by F. Scott Fitzgerald is about the realization of the true desire of the American Dream including status, wealth, and ability and the realization it is realistically unattainable. A myth associated with the American Dream is that even the lowest class can acquire the same wealth as the upper-class people. Fitzgerald depicts the class structure in “Winter Dreams” by the diction he chooses, evidence to support, and the complexity of the sentences when describing the two main characters, Dexter and Judy. Dexter is from the lower middle class, and Judy is an upper class debutante. To describe Dexter, Fitzgerald is straight and to the point with exact details of his life. He explains that Dexter is a middle class individual, …show more content…
The term golf course is generally associated with the image of rich men and their wives gallivanting their day away while the middle and lower class work to provide a comfortable life for their families. A country cub can be seen as a privilege in American society. In association with the figurative meaning and literal meaning of a golf course, the golf course in “Winter Dreams” is significant because this is where Dexter has most of his realizations. At first he works on the course to earn some cash, then, as the story progresses, newly rich Dexter dreams of what it will be like to play on the golf course, existing within the society of which he always hoped to be a part of. The course symbolizes a higher power, something to work towards and achieve, perhaps the “glittering things” Dexter always dreamed
In ‘Winter Dreams’, the ending is unexpected. Throughout the story, we are under the impression that this is the story of Dexter Green's love for Judy Jones. But at the end of the story, once Dexter finds out that Judy has lost her charms and settled into a bad marriage, we begin to wonder if this story is about something else entirely. Dexter does not weep for Judy. He weeps for himself, for the young man he once was and for the illusions he once held.
Dexter denies his background as coming from the middle class and wanting to have more in life. He started as a fourteen year old golf caddie and was the best one around. Dexter one day while working thought to himself that he could have so much more than just being a golf caddie. Then and there he decided to quit his job and move on with his life. As Dexter grows up and moves out west to fulfill his dream, there is a duality inside of him that ultimately is his own downfall.
Scott Fitzgerald showcases the American Dream and how success can lead to fortune, but not all people meet all their goals and sometimes “the dream” is just an illusion that leads to misfortune. “Of course, Dexter’s renunciation of the world that he sees Judy dominating leads to success in business and his conquest of the adult world, since he forgoes pleasure to concentrate on getting ahead. But even at the beginning of that conquest, the victory turns sour” (Fahey 147). Dexter the moment he saw Judy he became determined to become wealthy and marry the prettiest girl around, only then he would have reached the American Dream. “Because his winter dreams happened to be concerned at first with musings on the rich” (Fitzgerald). Dexter was obsessed with become part of the rich, he dreamed of being a golf champion, he went to a more prestige college even if it meant more debt, he bought a laundry company, and he tried to win the girl. When Dexter was a caddy he desperately wanted to be successful and wealthy; he wanted to feel the happiness it would bring to his life. Years later when Dexter beat T.A. Hedrick in golf it brought him little joy to his everyday life. Dexter was forced to realize while living in the middle class that money could not buy his happiness no matter how hard he strived in business. By the end of the story Dexter realized the American Dream was just an illusion and could never fully be
A doctor, a firefighter, a teacher, an astronaut: these are the kind of answers children give when asked the infamous question: What do you want to be when you grow up? As you grow older, this repetitive question becomes annoying because it forces you to confront and decide what exactly you want to do when you have been through adolescence. This conundrum is what plagues two characters in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “Winter Dreams.” In this story, Judy Jones and Dexter Green chase after their own dreams and collide multiple times along the way. Jones wants to continue in her current lifestyle of freedom, power, and fame which seems attainable with her charm; however, Jones’ manipulative tendencies make her unappealing to people after a time.
The short story of “Winter Dreams” was written around the same time that Fitzgerald was developing ideas for a story to turn into a novel. While The Great Gatsby wasn’t published until 1925, “Winter Dreams” débuted in 1922 and the similarities between the novel and short story were done on purpose. “Winter Dreams” became a short draft which Fitzgerald paralleled The Great Gatsby after, but also differentiated the two in specific ways (“Winter Dreams” 217). The main characters are both men, Jay Gatsby and Dexter Green, who desire for the American dream, not necessarily for themselves, but in order to lure back the women they idealize. In The Great Gatsby and “Winter Dreams” F. Scott Fitzgerald’s constant theme is shown through the characters of Jay Gatsby and Dexter Green, both similar in the way they pursue the American dream of wealth and social status in order to try and win back the women they love, but also different in specific ways.
The American Dream offers opportunity, equality, liberty, and social mobility to those who have lost their place, such as immigrants, African Americans, and white males with little wealth. This national ethos can supposedly be achieved through hard work, and determination with few social barriers. The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, illustrates the unreachable American Dream that so many have stopped fighting for. While the American dream may theoretically promise equality for all, social status will either hinder or improve an individual 's chances of success. Through rhetorical strategies such as imagery, symbolism, and diction, Fitzgerald’s interpretation of the American Dream is developed.
The concept of American dream originated in the 1600s, even before America was a country (“Ten Facts”). The forever changing American dream, has instilled in American literature the choices people are forced to make regarding their aspirations. Every generation has changed the common idea of what the American dream entails. There are immense possibilities as to how the common person interprets the American dream. The American dream inspires people to make their own decisions and prompts people that there is always another possibility (Izaguirre). In American literature the theme of choices and possibilities is prominent.
Wealth, material possessions, and power are the core principles of The American Dream. Pursuit of a better life led countless numbers of foreign immigrants to America desiring their chance at the vast opportunity. Reaching the American Dream is not always reaching true happiness. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby achieves the American Dream, but his unrealistic faiths in money and life’s possibilities twist his dreams and life into useless life based on lies.
The American Dream: the traditional social ideals of the US, such as equality, democracy, and material prosperity. Dexter represents this very well in the story Winter Dreams because it shows how he starts from the bottom and eventually works his way to the top. This is kind of an inspiring story because it starts off by having him be the best and most successful golf caddy that this golf course has ever had. All of the people that had him as a caddy were against him going other places and doing something with his life. Dexter made his own decisions and went where he wanted to go and he wanted more out of his like than being a golf caddy his whole life. In the text Winter Dreams written by Scott Fitzgerald Dexter is a worthy tribute to the American Dream he showed us that you can start from the bottom and have a very successful career ahead of you, Dexter showed us that if you work hard enough you can end up at the top, but you have to be willing to do the work, and everyone has an equal opportunity to be successful it is just the people who are willing to make sacrifices and want to be successful in life.
Despite how impossible it is, every person tries to achieve his or her dream so they can be happy or successful. The American Dream is being more powerful or better than anyone was before. In his stories Fitzgerald argues that this “American Dream” cannot be reached. No matter what it is, be it topping the social ladder, or getting the girl, or just being satisfied with one’s life, it just cannot be reached. There is always something stopping one from achieving one’s dream. Whether it is disadvantages or limitations sprung from social status, or other uncontrollable barriers blocking the dream, it is not something that can ever truly be enjoyed.
The plot of “Winter Dreams” is similar to a fairy tale. The story begins with a middle class young boy dreaming of fame and fortune. Dexter always will want more in life than he already does. He worked as a caddy and dreamed of one day golfing with these rich men. He first saw Judy Jones as a young boy. Like a fairytale, there’s “love at first sight”. Any fairytale would have ended this story with Dexter and Judy falling in love and spending the rest of their
The American Dream made the fantasies of the men of the novels strive to attain it, but in the end the dreams of both the men ultimately destroyed them. Both Fitzgerald and Hansberry wrote these books not only with the intention to merely entertain people, but also to entice the reader into a thought, and question how things happen in the world. Both Realist authors embarked on a rapid departure from the Romantic Movement, writing a novel that conveys to the reader what truly happens to people, and tries to show the true pragmatism of the real world. Both authors write in tangent about the American dream, and both put forth the question of if it actually exists, and concluding from their very cynical novels, it truly does not.
The concept of the American dream has been related to everything from religious freedom to a nice home in the suburbs. It has inspired both deep satisfaction and disillusioned fury. The phrase elicits for most Americans a country where good things can happen. However, for many Americans, the dream is simply unattainable. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “Winter Dreams,” Dexter Green, a hardworking young man born into the middle class, becomes wrapped up in his pursuit to obtain wealth and status in his life. These thoughts and ideas represent Dexter’s fixation on his “winter dreams,” or, the idea of what the American Dream means to him: gaining enough wealth to eventually move up in social class and become somebody, someday. As Dexter attempts to work himself up the social ladder, he falls in love with Judy Jones, a shallow and selfish, rich woman. But to Dexter, Judy represents the very idea of the American Dream-- obtaining wealth and status. Dexter’s pursuit of Judy and essentially the American Dream becomes an obsession. In the end, Dexter is forced to accept the realization that his “winter dreams” are actually just empty wishes. By characterizing Judy as a superficial, materialistic woman, Fitzgerald criticizes the destructive nature of the American Dream.
In the United States there is an idea many pursue called the American dream, which differs from person to person. The American dream according to americanradioworks.publicradio.org is “a revolutionary notion: each person has the right to pursue happiness, and the freedom to strive for a better life through hard work and fair ambition”. Yet it has been said there is no real definition of American dream, instead it merely proves that it has an unconscious influence in American mentality (Ştiuliuc 1). The American dream is different for each person because everyone yearns for things that will they hope will in return make them happy. Whatever that may be, each person goes through different struggles to obtain what they want. According to Frederic Carpenter, the American dream “has never been defined exactly, and probably never can be. It is both too various and too vague” (3). The Madonnas of Echo Park by Brando Skyhorse depicts the different interpretations on what the American dream actually is through the opinions and actions of Hector Esperanza, Efren Mendoza and Mrs. Calhoun.
“The loneliest moment in someone’s life is when they are watching their whole world fall apart, and all they can do is stare blankly.” F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby. The American Dream, a long-standing ideal, embodies the hope that one can achieve financial success, political power, and everlasting love through dedication and hard work. During the Roaring 20s, people in America put up facades to mask who they truly were. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald conveys that the American Dream is simply an illusion, that is idealist and unreal.