Winter Dreams Vs. the Great Gatsby

Arthur Bright

Mrs. Sagoes

American Lit. 4B

5 May, 2015

 Winter Dreams VS. The Great Gatsby

        The two books, Winter Dreams and The Great Gatsby, were written by F. Scott Fitzgerald which, knowingly, compared to each other’s plot in the process of their writing. The two protagonist characters, Gatsby and Dexter, both realistically resembles to Mr. Fitzgerald’s life of love and success. These stories tell about the life of two men that grow up to become successful business owners who come in contact with love and try to use wealth to be accepted or to become a part of society. Dexter falls in love with a women named Judy Jones, a charming, irresistible girl who suitors call “the ideal women” that every man needs. Gatsby also falls in love with a woman named Daisy Buchanan, “The Golden Girl”, a beautiful woman from Louisville, Kentucky who was popular amongst the military officers in her town, was also said to be the dream girl that every man hoped for. But as the story progresses, they both find out that love is either deadly or for pretend.

        In the story “Winter Dreams”, a young, low class boy named Dexter Green makes a little money by becoming a caddie at a country club and comes across an attractive girl that he met only years before. In the process of getting this girl, he expresses his “wealth” and overstates someone he is not. Eventually he gets the girl and becomes engaged to her. But down the road in their relationship, they come across a few disagreements and after some months, Judy decides to call off the engagement, leading them their separate ways. A few years go by and Dexter marries an honest girl, Irene. When Dexter comes back, he finds out that Judy marries a man from New York that is rich but unfortunately abusive. After Dexter sees how Judy has lasted in the relationship with her tempered husband, he concludes that she only marries men for their wealth and riches, and continues on with his life.

        However, in the story “The Great Gatsby”, an iconic millionaire known as Jay Gatsby not born into wealth, making the work harder for him to climb the social ladder. To get back to his past lover, Daisy Buchanan, Gatsby engages in a wealthy, but illegal life with mobsters and moves directly across from where she lives and throws parties every Saturday night with the hopes that she would wonder in one lonely night. In the moments of getting her back, Gatsby and Tom, Daisy’s husband, has a heated discussion about the true past of Mr. Gatsby and where he actually obtained his wealth. After Tom announces the truth about Gatsby’s past, Daisy no longer views him as the love of her life she once knew, but as a fake and a liar, making the desired feelings to run away with him no more. Tragically in the end, Jay Gatsby is killed and the people that often came to his parties would not attend his funeral, making it clear that the love was only in the money.