Winter Dreams

6 Pages 1508 Words

The Dream and the Reality

Lavish parties, twirling dresses, dapper men, and illegal alcohol fill the roaring times of the 1920s. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s story “Winter Dreams” reflects on this overzealous period. The tale tells how sometimes even with great motivation dreams cannot turn into reality. Fitzgerald does this by showcasing the life of Dexter Green. The story begins with fourteen-year-old Dexter caddying at the Sherry Island Golf Club, where he meets Judy Jones, the owner of the club’s daughter. Judy makes such an impact on Dexter that he quits his job that day. She continues to influence him for the rest of his life. He has many dreams that keep him from doing some things and force him to do others, even if they are irrational. Within a few years, Dexter acquires great wealth and gets involved as one of Judy Jones’ many affairs. Years later Dexter calls off his engagement to a woman named Irene Scheerer because of his obsession of Judy Jones. In the end, Dexter, alone, finds out that Judy, married with children, has moved on with her life. In addition, a man tells him her beauty has faded. This news crushes Dexter’s dream, and he does not know how to get back what he had had. In “Winter Dreams” Fitzgerald creates a complicated character, uses paradoxes to describe the relationships present in the story, and produces a person who molds his life around his dreams.
F. Scott Fitzgerald creates a complicated and manipulative character named Judy Jones, the daughter of Mortimer Jones, the wealthy owner of Sherry Island Golf Club, who always gets her way. Even as a ten-year-old little girl she has superiority over the staff. One day at the golf course she has a tantrum. Fitzgerald describes the scene by writing, “Miss Jones and her retinue…became involved in a heated conversation, which was concluded by Miss Jones taking one of the clubs and hitting it on the ground with violence” (Fitzgerald,...