Taylor Carmain

Professor Brook

ENG113, Composition

September 28, 2017

In the writing Winter Dreams by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the speaker, Dexter, is trying to

persuade the reader that he is chasing the American dream which would be wealth and success.

Throughout the writing, the main character Dexter goes through obstacles. These

obstacles contain small but significant detail. There are three parts; they are characters, ages,

and smiles. These details show the struggle, passion, and true meaning of what it means to gain

wealth, success, and love.

There are two main characters that make up the small detail that add up the whole big

picture. The main character is Dexter. He is obsessed with small details that only a few would

notice. He tries hard to show that he is living a life full of wealth and success. Other wealthy and

successful people wouldnt notice small detail such as the way hes dressing, acting, and

spending his wealth. The second main character is Judy. There are small but mighty details that

add up together in their story. Dexter met Judy on the golf course when he was just 14 years old.

A few years later down the road they meet again, this time on the lake of the golf course. One

detail that shows how their love is going to end up is when Dexter compares himself to her ex

lovers. He wants to know how successful and wealthy they were, compared to him. Even though

that there is no real connection between them, Dexter lies to himself. She was never able to give

Dexter everything he wants because she was constantly around other guys. After their

relationship ends, Dexter then finds himself engaged to another women, Irene. Judy comes to

Dexter, wanting him back. But not only him, his wealth and success. She plays him by saying
that he should be with her, because of their past and their history. All of these small events lead

to the end of them not ending up together in the end. Judy marries a man who cheats on her, and

she loses her looks. Dexter is hooked on the past, sad and devastated that they didnt last. She

was his symbol of wealth and success because of what they were, and now that shes gone, he

feels like he lost everything.

At the age of fourteen, Dexter quits his job at the golf course which he only had for

pocket money. This is the first step that he takes toward his own success. Fitzgerald says, At

this time the country gave him a feeling of profound melancholy--it offended him that the links

should lie in enforced fallowness (1; ch. 1, sec. 2). Dexter then decides on what how he wants

to achieve the American dream goal for his own life. He goes to school, borrows 1000, and

becomes a partner in a laundromat company. At age 23 Dexter goes back to the golf course that

he worked at when he was kid. He saw his success right in front of him, going from caddie, to

being wealthy and successful. He still wasnt happy with where life had taken him, something

was missing. Even after beating the man he once used to carry his bag for, Dexter could see the

difference between him and the first successful man in front of him. Because of these small goals

he set up for himself, by the age of 27, Dexter owns the largest laundry chain. After a few years

of successful, WW1 approaches and Dexter decides to join at the age of 32, giving his business

to his partner.

Similes are used to show the difference between Dexters reality and fantasy. They help to

clarify what Dexter truly wants and desires. The main simile used is Winter. Fitzgerald said,

October filled him with hope which November raised to a sort of ecstatic triumph, and in this

mood of fleeting brilliant impressions of summer at Sherry Island were ready grist to his mill

(1; ch. 1, sec. 4). The title of the story doesnt show up until the last sentence of chapter one.
Dexter starts to want wealth and success in the winter season. As the seasons change, so does

Dexter. As he gets older, he gets more wiser in his journey to wealth and success. His dreams are

made in the winter, which is cold and dark. The winter season that is mentioned so many times,

foreshadows that everything Dexter has will come to an end. Dexter will end up unhappy. The

second simile used throughout the story is the thing. Here is what Fitzgerald had to say about

the thing, He knew that Irene would be no more than a curtain spread behind him, a hand

moving among gleaming tea-cups, a voice calling to children . . . fire and loveliness were gone,

the magic of nights and the wonder of the varying hours and seasons . . . slender lips, down-

turing, dropping to his lips and bearing him into heaven of eyes . . . The thing was deep in him.

He was too strong and alive for it to die lightly (6; ch. 4, sec. 18). The thing that is constantly

being brought up, is his love for Judy. Dexter can never fully be pleased if it is not with her,

because of the symbol she represents, wealth and success.

Throughout the writing there a symbols that represent just small fractions of how Dexter

is feeling. The first symbol coexist with the character Judy. Judy represents the wealth and

success that Dexter wants and desires. This is shown throughout the writing, how she lives, who

she has been with before, and the fact that she left him and came back to him during his most

wealthy times in his life. The second symbol is the boat. Fitzgerald wrote this, His heart turned

over like the fly-wheel of the boat, and, for the second time, her casual whim gave a new

direction in his life (4; ch. 2, sec. 27). The boat shows wealth. He meets Judy for the second

time on the boat, indicating that he had finally reaches success, because of the symbolic message

that she means. While the motor of the boat roars, it puts a halt on Dexters fantasy, bringing him

back to reality.The second symbol is the golf balls that keep popping up through Dexters life.

The golf balls show how hard Dexter is trying to fit in with the other wealthy and successful
people. Because Dexter worked on the golf course before his success, these golf balls hold a

deeper meaning to him.

These obstacles that Dexter had faced throughout his life were small but very significant.

Each one added to the whole of his goal to be wealthy and successful. In the span of two decades

Fitzgerald builds his story from when he was young, earning for success, to being 37, having

everything at his fingertips, but the love he wanted.

a presentation of Thirteen/WNET New York ; produced by Catherine Brown Collins, DeWitt

Sage ; written and directed by DeWitt Sage. Winter Dreams, F. Scott Fitzgerald. New York

:Winstar TV & Video, 2001. Print.