All That Glitters

Book Review # 103096

English > Analysis
Literature > American

All That Glitters

An analysis of the character of Dexter Green in F. Scott Fitzgerald's "Winter Dreams".

1,397 words () | 0 sources | 2008 United States

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses how the character of Dexter Green in F. Scott Fitzgerald's short story, "Winter Dreams", is under the impression that becoming rich will bring happiness. The paper then relates that Dexter Green's "winter dreams" of wealth do not result in a truly fruitful life, because, as they say, money doesn't buy everything. The paper also relates that Dexter eventually gets the opposite of happiness and that, due to his dreams of grandeur, Dexter does not get to pursue a fulfilling love life.

From the Paper:

"Early in life, Dexter has dreams of becoming a great man, a respected man, even a famous man. Dexter imagines himself defeating a golf champion and then becoming one while he caddies for pocket money. Dexter dreams up "a marvelous match played over a hundred times in the fairways of his imagination, a match each detail of which he changed about untiringly - sometimes winning with almost laughable ease, sometimes coming up magnificently from behind" (Fitzgerald 1824). Dexter always wins in his dreams, as most people do in their dreams. But isn't this a bit unrealistic? Dreams, after all, are not reality. Will one always come out on top? Dexter certainly believes he can, but that does not mean he will. "