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Character development introduction
What is the importance of character development in literature
Character development introduction
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Most people want a wealthy and prosperous life. In his short story “Winter Dreams,” F. Scott Fitzgerald examines the results of working hard and becoming socially successful. In “Babylon Revisited,” he illustrates the life of being rich and partying instead of going to work. These stories serve as a cultural reference to the 20th century, but they also accentuate the loss of wealth. Fitzgerald portrays the effects of both earned and unearned monetary wealth in order to emphasize its power to corrupt. Fitzgerald emphasizes that earned wealth has the power to corrupt. In “Winter Dreams,” Dexter Green is depicted as a hard-working, middle class boy who quits his day job to later start a laundromat business. In the process, he falls in love with …show more content…
Judy Jones, a small-minded and flirty girl who only wants to date the rich. When Judy asked Dexter if he is poor, he explained, “I'm probably making more money than any man my age in the Northwest.” (5) His confident statement shows that he desires to impress Judy. It’s kind of surprising to see Dexter respond with such an egotistical answer. When Dexter cut off his engagement so that he could marry Judy, it “gave serious hurt to Irene Scheerer and to Irene's parents, who had befriended him.” (8) Judy only wanted to marry a rich guy and now that Dexter has money, she pays attention to him.
Judy plays Dexter when she cuts off their engagement one month afterwards. When Judy breaks off her engagement with Dexter, it is not a shock at all. Dexter is corrupted by his love for Judy. He would …show more content…
believe anything she says and do anything for her. Seven years later, Delvin, a business man, tells Dexter of the life Judy now lives with her alcoholic husband who cheats on her while she stays home with their kids. Dexter “had thought that having nothing else to lose he was invulnerable at last--but he knew that he had just lost something more, as surely as if he had married Judy Jones and seen her fade away before his eyes.” (9) Dexter has no feelings for Judy anymore, not after hearing about her new life. His life is empty now that he knows Judy will never be a part of it. Dexter’s wealth ends up corrupting him. Fitzgerald illustrates that unearned monetary wealth has the power to corrupt.
In “Babylon Revisited”, Charlie Wales is a 35 year old father who is a recovering alcoholic, trying to get rid of his bad habit. Charlie meets with his brother-in-law and sister-in-law to discuss where Honoria, Charlie’s daughter, should live. While Charlie is trying to win the votes of his dead wife’s siblings, he states, “There's a lot of business there that isn't moving at all, but we're doing even better than ever. In fact, damn well. I'm bringing my sister over from America next month to keep house for me. My income last year was bigger than it was when I had money.” (507) The confident way Charlie expresses how well his business is doing, really shows that he wants Honoria to live with him. The only way Honoria will be able to live with Charlie is if Marion Peters, his sister-in-law and Lincoln Peters, his brother-in-law decide that he is a good influence for her. Just like in “Winter Dreams”, Dexter has money too. Later, Lorraine and Duncan, who drink as a hobby, show up while Charlie is discussing living arrangements for Honoria. When Lorraine is disappointed Charlie will not join them, she pronounces, "All right, we'll go. But I remember once when you hammered on my door at four A.M. I was enough of a good sport to give you a drink. Come on, Duncan.” (518) Charlie is so close to finalizing his plans to take Honoria home, but his past creeps up on him and ruins everything. This whole
situation is exceedingly unfair that Charlie was about to strike a deal, but alternatively it was demolished by his old friends that he used to party with. Later, Charlie calls Lincoln and finds out he will have to wait six months until Lincoln and Marion decided Honorias living arrangements. Charlie ends up in a bar looking for Lorraine and Duncan “but he wanted his child, and nothing was much good now, beside that fact. He wasn't young any more, with a lot of nice thoughts and dreams to have by himself.” (520) Charlie will not be content until he receives custody of his daughter. The story ends in a very sad place where Charlie ends up gaining nothing. He ends up in the same bar he was in at the beginning of the story. Just like Dexter, Charlie is not happy with his life. Money eventually ends up corrupting him. Corruption has the ability to affect earned and unearned wealth. At the end of the story, Dexter and Charlie are both dissatisfied with their lives. Fitzgerald uses both stories to explain that monetary wealth does not make you happier, it just makes you richer.
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.
Dreams prove as a powerful, motivating force, propelling an individual forward into real achievements in life. Conversely, dreams can transpire as blatantly artificial. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “Winter Dreams” depicts the story of Dexter Green, a young man who dreams of achievements and works hard in a real, non-illusionary world to win them. His work in this plain, unromantic world brings him ever closer to the dream world he so desperately wants, while at the same time the dreams show themselves as decaying or empty. Unfortunately, this does not cure him of dreaming and does not push him to abandon his dreams in favor of a healthier attitude.
Fitzgerald likes to write about love, corruption and, fantasy during the Jazz age. Winter Dreams is about a middle-class boy falling in love with a wealthy girl and doing whatever he can to obtain her. Dexter Green chases his dream of wealth and love for one woman only for it to come crashing down. F. Scott Fitzgerald shows the characterization of hope through Dexter’s Green
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.
Novelists such as Willa Cather and F. Scott Fitzgerald used themes of desire of wealth as a fundamental element to motivate their characters. In their novels, the theme is reflected by the rich Americans who primal desire is to obtain more and more wealth. These characters are so infatuated with and blinded by money that they no longer regard the more noble qualities of life. In each of their works, these authors present intricate, self-conscious characters that desire wealth in order to attain their dreams. In reality, wealth cannot buy people, ideas or even time.
“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man 's needs, but not every man 's greed.” As humans, we work countless hours in order to have a greater opportunity to succeed in life to fulfill our wants. F Scott Fitzgerald, author of The Great Gatsby, utilizes effective language and punctuation in the text in order to accomplish his purpose: Illustrate what material goods does to a society. From a rhetorical standpoint, examining logos, ethos, and pathos, this novel serves as a social commentary on how pursuing the “The American Dream” causes people in society to transform into greedy and heartless individuals.
In the book Winter Dreams by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the main character, Dexter Green, chases unattainable ambitions of success, wealth, and the “ideal” woman. Throughout the book Dexter struggles with his ever changing, empty dreams. Although at first glance the reader might assume Dexter is solely trying to pursue the ideal woman, Judy Jones, a more in depth look reveals that through the attempt to obtain Judy’s affection, Dexter is trying to achieve the greater symbol she represents. Judy parallels a vast symbol of being born into privilege, affluence, and the embodiment of the “American Dream.” Through use of numerous troupes including foreshadowing, metaphors, and symbolism the narrator suggests to the reader that all of Dexter’s
Scott Fitzgerald wrote the story Winter Dreams and in it he showed that Dexter had the American Dream when started from the bottom and made his way to the top and had a very successful career. The story started out with Dexter working as a caddy at this fancy golf course. One day he all of a sudden decides that he doesn’t want to be a caddy his whole life. He wants more out of life even if he was the best caddy that this golf course has ever had. He wanted to be a successful career where he could make a lot of money. So he went to business school where he learned to be a great business man. It makes people see that even though...
In ‘The Great Gatsby’ Fitzgerald criticises the increase of consumerism in the 1920s and the abandonment of the original American Dream , highlighting that the increased focus on wealth and the social class associated with it has negative effects on relationships and the poorest sections of society. The concept of wealth being used as a measure of success and worth is also explored by Plath in ‘The Bell Jar’. Similarly, she draws attention to the superficial nature of this material American Dream which has extended into the 1960s, but highlights that gender determines people’s worth in society as well as class. Fitzgerald uses setting to criticise society’s loss of morality and the growth of consumerism after the Great War. The rise of the stock market in the 1920s enabled business to prosper in America.
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
During the 1920s, in the wake of nationwide prosperity, a new social class arose in America, comprised of those who came from humble origins and worked hard to gain significant wealth. As Jennifer Banach puts it, “this prosperity also gave people license to experiment with hedonism and cast off their moral and social responsibilities to pursue their own pleasure” (23). An American who reached for opulence himself, F. Scott Fitzgerald observed these realties first hand. In his short stories, “Winter Dreams” and “The Diamond as Big as the Ritz,” Fitzgerald expresses the emptiness of the wealthy and criticizes the popular obsession with the American Dream in the 1920s.
...m that was based more on wealth and possessions and less on hard work and achievement. The fact that he later rebelled against the material 1920s culture shows that he was in fact cautioning against this lifestyle rather than encouraging it.” This more than anything proves Fitzgerald is making a commentary on the corruption of the American Dream rather than simply the tale of wealthy lovers.
Dexter had to keep himself from forgetting he cannot have Judy Jones. In the end of the story Dexter has come to a conclusion he could not have Judy, “When autumn had come and gone again, it occurred to him that he could not have Judy Jones. He had to beat this into his mind, but he convinced himself at last. He lay awake at night for a while and argued it over. He told himself the trouble and the pain she had caused him, he enumerated her glaring deficiencies as a wife”(p 974). While Dexter cared for Judy he felt that he need to forget her since he knew he could never really have her full attention. While he knew he could never have her he knew he could never have her he meet her again and falls for her all over again one last time and this time it was her that was convincing him to date once again. "I'm more beautiful than anybody else," she said brokenly, "why can't I be happy?" Her moist eyes tore at his stability--her mouth turned slowly downward with an exquisite sadness: "I'd like to marry you if you'll have me, Dexter. I suppose you think I'm not worth having, but I'll be so beautiful for you, Dexter"(p 977). While Dexter was not too sure how to feel he didn't know how to react to this, with Judy he
“Money is the root of all evil”(Levit). Man and his love of money has destroyed lives since the beginning of time. Men have fought in wars over money, given up family relationships for money and done things they would have never thought that they would be capable of doing because of money. In the movie, based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, the author demonstrates how the love and worship of money and all of the trappings that come with it can destroy lives. In the novel Jay Gatsby has lavish parties, wears expensive gaudy clothes, drives fancy cars and tries to show his former love how important and wealthy he has become. He believes a lie, that by achieving the status that most Americans, in th...
To divorce an adored wife for a woman who will undoubtedly never love back seems unreal and comfortless. But for Dexter Green, in “Winter Dreams,” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, this will become a heartless reality. Dexter Green makes it his most important goal to capture the love of a beautiful young woman. However, the girl has no interest in having a long-term, serious relationship with Dexter. Dexter will, unfortunately, find out the hard way that his goal will be fulfilled under different circumstances. Although, from the start of Dexter’s ominous journey, he believed his love for Judy would progress to an even greater state. Many would suppose he was fighting a losing battle from the beginning of his journey. Fitzgerald’s