Literary works of F. Scott Fitzgerald are very famous in the whole context of 20th-century American literature; the writer managed to win fame due to his artistic and gentle language, the ability to conform to the views, tastes, and attitudes of the beginning of the 20th century and his skillful representation of fiction. Fitzgerald, in contrast to the majority of classical writers, appreciated only long after their death, managed to catch the air of the peer public, and earned fairly much on publications of his short stories. The main secret of success and popularity of Fitzgerald’s works was the revelation of fashionable and aspired formulas of success and recognition to which all Americans strived during the Roaring Twenties (Zisser).
The story “Winter Dreams” is a wonderful example of Fitzgerald’s creative activity that reflects the dominant wishes, thoughts, and dreams of the American society, the recipe of self-creation, and the secret of success of an average American citizen caught by the American dream’s false values (Hearn 33). Hearn characterizes it as follows:
“the dream of material success, the quest for the Golden Girl, questions of wealth and social position represent a realm in which Fitzgerald’s strongly felt personal emotions coincided with the central obsession of the times” (Fearn 33).
The work represents a description of the development of American culture and ideology in the Roaring Twenties: people have lost the direction in their lives and fear the complete independence so eagerly offered to them by the state (though only in theory) (Zisser). The main character, Dexter Green, is an embodiment of the tragic isolation of an American citizen lacking the free will leads: he is obsessed by false American values; he strives to have glimmering possessions that the media cultivate so intensely. This is the main reason for which he leaves the service in the golf club – his decision is the manifestation of his ambition and pride that is further on implemented in his success with the laundry partnership (Fitzgerald 3, 7). The story was trivial and not surprising; this way Fitzgerald shows how easily a person can achieve success in case he has determination and willpower.
Nonetheless, the continuation of the story shows the misleading power of false American dreams for Dexter who falls in love with Judy Jones, a light-minded, empty person (Fitzgerald). As Zisser admits, Judy is not a woman for Dexter; she is the tangible manifestation of Dexter’s infinite aspirations, she is the metaphor of the glimmering Americanism Dexter wants to possess, so he throws all his effort on obtaining the goal using having Judy (Zisser). Being struck by betrayal, understanding how mistaken he was in Judy, Dexter leaves for the war and wins his fortune after his return. Nonetheless, his love remains with him because it is a part of him and a part of his winter dreams.
The conclusion of the story is very eloquent about the true nature of Dexter’s feeling of love towards Judy. She used to be a funny, glimmering, lively girl who was America for him. She was the symbol to which he felt attached because he wanted nothing more. But Judy changed as any other person did, which was unbearable for Dexter:
“The gates were closed, the sun was gone down, and there was no beauty but the gray beauty of steel that withstands all time. Even the grief he could have borne was left behind the country of illusion, of youth, of the richness of life, where his winter dreams had flourished” (Fitzgerald 28).
These lines show the true nature of Dexter: even though he became rich and embodied a part of his dream, he still had false values and ideals that had nothing in common with the true America. His dream betrayed him, and the feeling of senseless life that he had had might have been destructive for Dexter:
“The reality is, unfortunately, that Dexter is just another conformist, pseudo-spiritual prototype of the power-hungry American male whose misled ideologies and identity, or lack thereof, culminate in the materialistic milieu of the Roaring Twenties” (Zisser).
Dexter lives a long and senseless life that appeared an American nightmare and not the American dream that he had nurtured so much. Judy was a false love, life was a false value, and even his success brought nothing but disgust. Thus, Fitzgerald proves how shallow the material life maybe for the lost, disenchanted generation of the 1920s in America.
Works Cited
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. Winter Dreams. Kessinger Publishing, 2004.
Hearn, R. Charles. “F. Scott Fitzgerald and the Popular Magazine Formula Story of the Twenties”. The Journal of American Culture. Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Volume 18, Issue 3, 2004. pp. 33 – 40.
Zisser, Michael. Intellectual and Social Progress in Fitzgerald’s “Winter Dreams”. The Brownstone Journal. Vol. XII (2005).