- Published: December 14, 2021
- Updated: December 14, 2021
- University / College: Université Laval
- Language: English
- Downloads: 39
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story, “ Winter Dreams”, tells the story of a boy named Dexter who is a middle class citizen.
Dexter works as a golf caddy for wealthy people, and one day at work he meet a woman by the name of Judy Jones. Judy was a very wealthy lady who seemed to be living the “ American Dream”. Upon meeting Judy, Dexter impulsively makes the decision that he no longer wants to be a caddy. Instead he wants to quit in pursuit of achieving the american dream of being wealthy. When the wealthy golf players find out about Dexter wanting to quit they tried to stop him saying that he was too good of a caddy to quit his job for a dream. Dexter later started his own laundry business working towards his “ winter dream”. Even though it was not the most spectacular job, it brought Dexter very much wealth.
Later on, Dexter runs in to Judy while they were both on rafts in the lake. They begin talking and Judy the invites Dexter to dinner, and he gladly accepts the invitation. Once they get to dinner, Judy explains that she is very upset because the man she is in love with is not as wealthy as she is. Dexter reassures her that it is alright if the man she loves is not as wealthy as she is, and Judy kisses Dexter. After this happens, Dexter thinks about how he has been wishing for that moment to happen since he was a young boy, when he saw her playing golf.
When Judy kissed him, although he fell in love with her, he realized that his whole life he had been hoping for this moment. He had been thinking that once he had Judy and he was in love, that then he would be truly happy and he would not need to be wealthy because he would always happy as long he had Judy. Because of this, we see that one of the themes could be that the “ American Dream” may not necessarily make you happiest. Everyone has their own personal American dream. Someone’s American dream cane be something like being wealthy enough to support your family or being wealthy enough to get basic necessities you need in life.
Very many people think that once you reach your American dream that you will be happy in life, but very many people realize that their American dream does not really bring them the happiness that they thought it would when they originally thought of it.