English 11 Literature #20

Mr. Rinka

F. Scott Fitzgerald“Winter Dreams”

F. Scott Fitzgeraldhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F._Scott_Fitzgerald

F. Scott Fitzgeraldhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F._Scott_Fitzgerald

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (1896 – 1940) was an American author of novels and short stories whose works are the paradigm writings of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American

writers of the 20th century. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost Generation" of the 1920s. He finished four novels: This Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and Damned, Tender is the Night and his most famous, The Great Gatsby. A fifth, unfinished novel, The Love of the Last Tycoon, was published

posthumously. Fitzgerald also wrote many short stories that treat themes of youth and promise along with despair and age. Novels such as The Great Gatsby and Tender is the Night were made into films, and in 1958 his life from 1937–1940 was dramatized in Beloved Infidel.

Fitzgerald's work has inspired writers ever since he was first published. The publication of The Great Gatsby prompted T. S. Eliot to write, in a letter to Fitzgerald, "[I]t seems to me to be the first step that American fiction has taken since Henry James...". Don Birnam, the protagonist of Charles Jackson's The

Lost Weekend, says to himself, referring to The Great Gatsby, "There's no such thing...as a flawless novel. But if there is, this is it." In letters written in the 1940s, J. D. Salinger expressed admiration of Fitzgerald's work, and his biographer Ian Hamilton wrote that Salinger even saw himself for some

time as "Fitzgerald's successor." Richard Yates, a writer often compared to Fitzgerald, called The Great Gatsby "the most nourishing novel [he] read...a miracle of talent...a triumph of technique."It was written in a New York Times editorial after his death that Fitzgerald "was better than he knew,

for in fact and in the literary sense he invented a generation.... He might have interpreted them and even guided them, as in their middle years they saw a different and nobler freedom threatened with destruction.“ Into the 21st century, millions of copies of The Great Gatsby and his

other works have been sold, and Gatsby, a constant best-seller, is required reading in many high school and college classes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F._Scott_Fitzgerald

“Winter Dreams”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_Dreams

"Winter Dreams" is a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald that first appeared in Metropolitan Magazine in December 1922, and was collected in All the Sad Young Men in 1926. It is considered one of Fitzgerald's finest stories and is frequently

anthologized. In the Fitzgerald canon, it is considered to be in the "Gatsby-cluster," as many of its themes were later expanded upon in his famous novel The Great Gatsby in 1925. Fitzgerald described "Winter Dreams" as “a sort of first draft of the Gatsby idea.”

“Winter Dreams”http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Winter_Dreams

WINTER DREAMS

Discussion “Winter Dream”

Compare and contrast Dexter And Judy.

Both Dexter and Judy are seeking happiness from outside themselves. Both have a desire for something that they are unable to pin point

but think happiness can be found in some worldly pleasure. Neither exhibits a sense of strong self-esteem with Judy needing the affirmation of her beauty from others while she manipulates boys’ and men’s emotions, and Dexter feeling insecure in his background and seeking acceptance in a world

that is economically and socially above his. Both Dexter and Judy are products of their background and upbringing and are motivated differently because of this. Their background make them fundamentally different. Dexter’s middle class roots seem to have

given him a sense of inferiority to the people he caddies for while Judy’s upper class background gives her a sense of superiority. Dexter is ambitious and wants to better himself in a way that appeals to him while Judy is seeking nothing more than affirmation of her status as a wealthy, beautiful woman.

Are either characters ever satisfied in their pursuit of happiness?

Neither Dexter nor Judy find the happiness they seek. Dexter never acquires the love that he wants from Judy, and when he learns of her marriage to a man who disrespects her and learns of her diminishing

beauty, he refuses to believe it. Helashes out at the news. Judy eventually marries and is relegated to the role of wife and mother who is losing her youthful beauty and appeal. Ironically, for all the men who pursued her, she ends up with one who is not as adoring as all the others.

What is the reason for Dexter’s and Judy’s failure to find happiness?

Both are seeking happiness and satisfaction from life through other people. Dexter sees Judy and all that she stands for as the key to what he desires and believes will make him happy. Judy sees the admiration

of others as her key to happinessand relishes the control she has over others by using her charms. Neither is capable of seeing how futile their actions are. Neither understands that happiness is found only within and with an acceptance for what life offers.

What is the significance of the title?

Winter connotes a time when life is dormant. It symbolizes a dreary and darker period of the year when nothing is growing and the landscape is sparse. Dreams are not real and often prove to be very misleading. Yet they can trick us into believing in them. So dreams that come about under dark and

stagnant circumstances will not prove to be fruitful or beneficial, hence “winter dreams.”

What is the point of this story?

Fitzgerald was very interested in howAmericans perceived happiness. The “American Dream” seems to

focus on the acquisition of material wealth and the status that wealth brings. People become so enamored with this idea that they believe it is a source of happiness. For so many, life-long pursuit of this “Dream” proves to be very disappointing, even with the material pleasures that accompany it.

Fitzgerald explores this theme much more deeply in his famous novel The Great Gatsby. Based upon similar characters found in “Winter Dreams” The Great Gatsby, exposes the negative aspects of wealth, power, and life in America in the 1920’s.

Discussion

In a Socratic Seminar explore this topic:

What do you think makes people happy, and how can they get this?

Additional Assignment #1

Read a summary of The Great Gatsby.

The Great Gatsby

Additional Assignment #2

Journal #16:Write at least a paragraph describing a goal you have and how you plan to attain that goal.

English 11 Literature #20

Mr. Rinka

F. Scott Fitzgerald“Winter Dreams”