Verified Document

Winter Dreams The Tension Between Democratic And Essay

¶ … Winter Dreams" the tension between democratic and aristocratic values in America "Winter Dreams" depicts the struggles of a middle-class character who is attempting to prove himself 'worthy' of a woman of American, blue-blooded aristocracy. At the beginning of the story, the hero Dexter is acting as a caddy at a golf course where most of the patrons are of a far higher social class than the caddies. Dexter, a member of the middle class and the son of a grocer, is offended by the treatment he receives at the hands of a much younger girl and abruptly quits, in an attempt to preserve his dignity. This determination to seem like a member of the elite classes will remain with Dexter for the rest of his life. He is continually torn between the value of democracy and the unpretentiousness of his home and the sort of society he covets, which is of the upper echelons of the American class system.

This determination to seem of a higher class than he is haunts Dexter for most of his life. "Thee quality and the seasonability of these winter dreams varied, but the stuff of them remained....

However, this line of work is almost as tainted with the hint of lower-class striving as the bootlegging of another famous Fitzgerald hero, Jay Gatsby. When Dexter falls in love with Judy Jones, a tan, athletic woman who is loved by members of the elite, Dexter's desire to get ahead and his desire for her beauty are fused into one. Gazing at his rivals he muses: "He knew the sort of men they were -- the men who when he first went to college had entered from the great prep schools with graceful clothes and the deep tan of healthy summers. He had seen that, in one sense, he was better than these men. He was newer and stronger. Yet in acknowledging to himself that he wished his children to be like them he was admitting that he was but the rough, strong stuff from which they eternally sprang." Dexter knows he has qualities of hard work and cunning that these blue bloods lack and he has values of perseverance they do not possess, that enables him to get ahead. But for all of…

Sources used in this document:
Works Cited

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. Full e-text available at http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/f/fitzgerald/f_scott/gatsby/chapter5.html

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. "Winter Dreams." Full e-text available at http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/winterd/winter.html

Lieber, Ron. "Placing the blame as students are mired in debt." The New York Times.

29 May 2010. [13 Jul 2012] http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/29/your-money/student-loans/29money.html?pagewanted=all
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Tolerance and Its Limits
Words: 2465 Length: 8 Document Type: Essay

Tolerance Global terrorism has changed the entire spectrum of tolerance in today's world. Highlighted by the events of 9/11 the facts that even the world's most powerful nation was not immune to the effects of terrorism brought home the fact that there was little defense to the acts of terrorists. The age of innocence in the United States had ended and the rest of the world waited to see how the

Abraham Lincoln Past President of
Words: 5782 Length: 20 Document Type: Term Paper

In 1837, Lincoln took highly controversial position that foreshadowed his future political path. He joined with five other legislators out of eighty-three to oppose a resolution condemning abolitionists. In 1838, he responded to the death of the Illinois abolitionist and newspaper editor, Elijah Parish Lovejoy, who was killed while defending his printing presses from a mob of pro-slavery citizens in Alton, Illinois. In a statesmanlike manner, Lincoln gave a cautious

Armenian Genocide, Turkish Excuses Children
Words: 8945 Length: 30 Document Type: Term Paper

In the Nineteenth Century, Mahmud II and Abdulmecid promulgated reforms that gave to millet the sense it has always had to Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Western scholars, diplomats, and politicians. The millet system furnished, degree of religious, cultural, and ethnic continuity within these communities, while on the other it permitted their incorporation into the Ottoman administrative, economic and political system. An ethnic-religious group preserved its culture and religion while being subject

Peasant Life During the Meiji
Words: 5967 Length: 20 Document Type: Thesis

..Of course, her earnings were also meager, but it was better than relying on farming alone" (Nagatsuka, 1). Oshina, the wives' character in the novel, could be the impersonation of any hardworking farmer's wife during the Meiji Restoration in Japan. The hardship of the life in a village struggling to adjust to the wave of modernity swiping the country, but still very deeply rooted in the previous period was plausible

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now