Roaring 20s
First published in 1922 in Metropolitan Magazine, F. Scott Fitzgerald's "Winter Dreams" chronicles the life of Dexter Green, a hardworking ambitious young man who wants success and ultimately achieves it. The story highlights themes such as success, failure, loss of traditional ideals but above all, "Winter Dreams" reflects Fitzgerald's perspective on the American Dream.
Set in the Roaring '20s, in the aftermath of the World War I, Fitzgerald's short story looks at the dramatic transformations undergone by contemporary American society. Traditional beliefs that had shaped American society were being replaced with confusion which resulted in the rejection of conventional morality. In the 1920s, Americans embraced a new found freedom expressed through clothing, behavioral patterns, as well as the arts. Fitzgerald called this decade the "Jazz Age," a term which embodied the cultural revolution that defined the decade in question. However, Fitzgerald focuses on how these societal changes affected mentalities by studying the birth and shaping of the American Dream in the 1920s.
In "Winter Dreams," Dexter's ideal of success is characterized by wealth and social status. The opportunities provided by the new century motivate young men and women of the 1920s to dream of success from early ages. This is also the case of Dexter who, working at a local golf course, envisions himself becoming a golf champion. His dreams of success are fueled by his love for Judy Jones who becomes the embodiment of his "winter dreams" of accessing a glittering world which appears full of possibilities and fulfillment. However, just as underneath Judy Jones's exterior lies a dangerous combination of shallowness and bitterness, the interior of this glamorous world is hollow and devoid of true values and meaning. In this sense, Fitzgerald builds an image of a hollow American Dream, one that is characterized by disappointment, loneliness and profound failure as far as the truly important things in life.
Fitzgerald, Scott F., Winter Dreams. Available online at
