Similarities Between Winter Dreams And The Great Gatsby

The short story “Winter Dreams” and the novel The Great Gatsby were written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Gatsby wrote these works during the “Jazz Age”. His works were impacted by the time period. In both texts there is a rich girl, a man who becomes wealthy, and a struggle between wealth and love. The texts show the fantasy or perfect women and love. The men in the story who start off not wealthy are searching for perfection. “Winter Dreams” is said to be a short rough draft of The Great Gatsby because of the similarities in love, importance of wealth, and dissatisfaction.
In “Winter Dreams”, love is one of the main focuses in the story. Judy is a rich, selfish girl. Dexter is the poor man lusting for wealth and for the idea of a perfect women.

In The Great Gatsby, Daisy is Judy and Gatsby is Dexter. The male revolves their lives around the girl and does everything in their power to meet the women's expectations.

Dexter starts a laundry business and becomes very wealthy at a young age. Gatsby becomes very rich and throws elaborate parties to try and show off his wealth to Daisy, while getting her attention. In both stories there is a fantasy of what love is and a perfect women. In these texts, love is based off of wealth, and meeting someone from years before they were even old enough to understand. In both texts, the love is from the look of the women and the idea of them. They are falling for eachother in their young teen ages to middle ages. Judy ends up marrying a man who cheats on her while she stays home with the children. Daisy marries Tom, who cheats on her with someone in New York while she also stays with her children.Tom likes the idea of having control over women in his life, like Myrtle and Daisy: ‘"You're crazy!" he exploded. "I can't speak about what happened five years ago, because I didn't know Daisy then—and I'll be damned if I see how

you got within a mile of her unless you brought the groceries to the back door. But all the rest of that's a God damned lie. Daisy loved me when she married me and she loves me now."’ (Fitzgerald 131). When Daisy cheats on him with Gatsby, he brings back up wealth and the past, knowing that she was going to stay with Tom because of his security in his money and life.. Both women end up with an unhappy marriage and both men are the ones who are there to try and pick up the pieces and win them over. Overall, wealth and security always wins in the end leaving the men hopeless.
Wealth is represented in both texts. In “Winter Dreams”, Judy marries her husband based on his wealth. In the beginning, Judy ditches her boyfriend at the time because she found out he was poor and she could not live without a rich man. Although. Dexter also starts out average and not extremely wealthy enough for Judy. ‘“I’m nobody,” he announced. “My career is largely a matter of futures.”’ The whole time, both characters were mainly concerned with money from a young age. They believed there was no success without it. In The Great Gatsby, Daisy marries Tom based on the fact he is very wealthy. She ends up unhappy with him but still will not leave Tom for Gatsby. Tom gives her security while Gatsby, he isn't as wealthy and could cause issues. Gatsby becomes rich and is now somewhat suitable to be with Daisy. In both stories, the women fall for the men because they become more eligible by their wealth and because they need excitement in the lives they are no longer happy in. Dexter is trying to find success throughout the whole story just like Gatsby is trying too by getting Daisy and throwing parties across the water from her to prove his wealth to afford the liquor that was illegal during the time and the performances.
The last element that is similar in both texts, making “Winter Dreams” a prototype of The Great Gatsby is how the characters are dissatisfied in their lives.

Gatsby is in love with Daisy. No matter how much money he was or how many beautiful women he encounters, he will still only be satisfied with Daisy which could never happen. When Gatsby was younger, he lived on a farm with his poor, immigrant parents. He couldn't take living in poverty because he wanted to live the “American Dream”. In “Winter Dreams”, he is also unsatisfied with his life being poor with immigrant parents. So, Dexter quits his job at the golf course and starts his own laundry business that spreads and makes him wealthy. He is in love with Judy and will not be satisfied with any other women but her, but does not get her in the end. In both stories, the male characters are not satisfied in their dreams. In both stories, both women are also unsatisfied in their marriages. Judy;s husband is cheating on her and leaves her with the child. Daisy’s husband cheats on her and leaves her home with their child also. Both women go to men that they have felt comfortable with in the past before all their problems and live through them almost like they are a distraction or a reminder of the happier times in the

past.
Finally, “Winter Dreams” is a prototype of The Great Gatsby because Dexter and Gatsby both think of lust for love, all characters care about wealth, and dissatisfaction. In the end, both female characters rely on safety and go back to their unhappy marriages. The two men are left without whom they thought were the love of their lives, and blah blah blah.