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F. Scott Fitzgerald's Winter Dreams

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To the unaware reader, “Winter Dreams” is a simple story about lost love and the coming of age. However, the message portrayed by author F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a lot deeper than what most perceive it as. “Winter Dreams” tells us the tale of a young man, Dexter, and his struggle to escape his middle-class life, and become one of the elites of society. One summer while working as a caddy, Dexter realizes his one real chance at becoming a man of influence. That key to success is the beautiful Judy Jones, and marriage to her would grant Dexter everything he has ever wanted. This journey to power and wealth follows the age-old concepts of the Marxist theory on American Dream, the ideology that anyone, regardless of where they were born or what …show more content…
What Dexter goes through is a perfect example of the truly deceitful nature of the American Dream, and his experience both ruins his life, yet saves it. Dexter is brought up in a middle-class family, and as he grew up, he always envisioned himself as becoming a man of wealth and excellence. He constantly yearned for more out of life, and the second he saw an opportunity to make his dreams a reality, he took it. His American Dream symbolically took the form of a real person, Judy Jones. She is described as being incredibly beautiful and charming, and these descriptions of her also describe the allure of the American Dream. As Dexter’s dream and attraction to Judy build, he sees that Judy is absolutely the only way for him to achieve his goals of becoming a member of the upper class, and it is this realization that results in him having the willpower to sacrifice everything for her. Dexter even goes to the heights of leaving his fiancee because he feels that she will never be able to provide him with the success and prosperity that Judy can. Furthermore, after Judy’s attraction to Dexter fades again, he feels not even a slight bit of regret for what he has put himself through. All of the above is an example of Dexter letting his American

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