Winter Dreams Essay Example for Free

Winter Dreams Essay Matthew Bruccoli wrote, â€Å"The four closing paragraphs of this story are distinguished by Fitzgerald’s complex explication of Dexter’s sense of mutability: he grieves for the loss of his capacity to grieve. † This statement is about the main character Dexter, in Scott Fitzgerald’s â€Å"Winter Dreams†. I agree that the last four paragraphs show a man whose dream does not turn out the way expects it. Dexter worked hard and in the end, the dream was gone, taken from him. The last line supports Bruccoli’s statement, â€Å" I cannot cry. I cannot care. That thing will come back no more. What Dexter is talking about is his dream or the classic â€Å"American Dream. † The main character of this story Dexter has a vision of success; he wants to pursue the American Dream, money, status, and class. While chasing his goals he wants to climb the latter of wealth and then marry beautiful Judy Jones. Little does Dexter know where this journey is going to take him, the American Dream is something that every person would like to someday reach, but what happens when you get the American Dream? Fitzgerald’s voice is clearly heard in this novel because he shows the parallels’ between Dexter’s â€Å"Winters Dream† and the American Dream. He presents this idea of idealism in a negative way, telling the reader the underlying opinion that the American Dream isn’t real and that all there is left after the glitz and glam are gone is a shuddering feel of emptiness. â€Å"Winter Dreams† is a short story that takes place over a time period of twenty years. The American Dream is something that came about in the mid-1900’s this is something that Dexter strives to have. He wants to be a part of the elite and when he graduates from a prestigious eastern college he becomes a partner in a laundry company. This makes Dexter very wealthy and successful and he realizes that he has two things that are important to American Character: confidence and hard work. He has always had the drive to succeed, even when he quit his job as a caddy his boss begged him â€Å"with tears in his eyes,† not to quit the job. He also exudes confidence when he quits because he knows that he can do better for himself. Also he wanted to be seen as equal not inferior to Judy Jones and he works very hard throughout this entire story to achieve that. Dexter Greens whole life, personal choices, and aspirations were dramatically influenced by the incredible power Judy had on him. His fatal attraction towards her is something that he can never quite shake until the end of this novel. Judy Jones represents all of the things that Dexter can’t have. She is unattainable, just as money, power and success are to a four-teen year old boy; four-teen was the age Judy and Dexter first met. At twenty three Dexter met Judy again in a golf country club, where they became sentimentally involved. Very soon in the story the reader realizes that Judys good looks and flirtatious behavior has the great power to conquer numerous men, including Dexter, making them absolutely powerless and blindly fall in love with her. Judy becomes the ammunition to Dexter’s American Dream she is the ultimate goal Dexter wants to achieve. When he finally catches her eye and they being to date, it doesn’t take long for Judy’s destructive character and shallowness to emerge. Dexter realizes that he is just something that she can play with and when she gets bored with one suitor she quickly throws them out and replaces them with a new one. Her ultimate concern is for her own desires and she doesn’t care about anyone she steps on along the way. Unfortunately for Dexter this destructive game causes nothing but hurt and disparaging sadness for him. Judy and Dexter are briefly engaged and during this time they both suffer a great deal of disillusionment and pain. . â€Å"Winter Dreams,† explores many themes that stand out, but the main theme that Fitzgerald addresses is by far the American Dream and its hollowness at the end of the road. This is a classic story of life lessons, love, and pursuing inner dreams and goals. The way that Fitzgerald uses Judy Jones to represent and entire lifestyle and goal of a character is genius. The American Dream is something that a person works towards and cannot reach by impatience it’s a goal that should be reached overtime, something that should not be allowed to take over your life. Because we are encouraged to chase our goals and follow our dreams, people get caught up in the dream and the illusion and don’t look towards the reality. Then you end up without the capability of grieving and miss the loss of even that. The last four paragraphs summarize all the aspirations Dexter had, lost. He said they had existed once but no longer do, and will never return again.