F. Scott Fitzgerald

In the midst of winter, we finished a story called Winter Dreams by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The setting of this story initially took place in the winter in Minnesota, and the story is talking about the main character, Dexter, acquiring his "winter dreams" which is symbolized by the character called Judy Jones. Note and important fact in this story is that the winter dreams that Dexter so desperately wanted also represents the typical American dream. In the end of the story Dexter did not get Judy Jones and Judy Jones' beauty fleeted and her youth was long gone, so basically Dexter did not acquire this winter dream or American dream of his. Dexter started to feel like his life has no meaning anymore as he wasn't as young as he was anymore, and the inability to achieve his dream, he lost his idealism.

Later on in class, we also read a letter that F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote for his daughter, "A Letter to His Daughter". In this short letter, it described how F. Scott Fitzgerald wants her daughter to worry about those that can make her a good person such as courage and horsemanship and not to worry about those petty little things that does not matter at all such as insects, popular opinions and boys. All in all, F. Scott Fitzgerald wants her daughter to have a good character.

After reading both works by F. Scott Fitzgerald, I believe that F. Scott Fitzgerald changed his views of a typical American dream. In the “Winter Dreams”, he portrayed his definition of American dream as holding fame, wealth and women, but in his letter addressing to his daughter, he changed his views and hold his American dream as having a good character. I believe that the failure of success and acquiring such materialistic pleasure from the story “Winter Dreams” made an impact and woke F. Scott Fitzgerald. It taught us that materialistic works and pleasure cannot last and is not worthy of obtaining, but a good character lasts and can very much provide you a path to success, if not a path to a much peaceful life.

In conclusion, I love the ideas that F. Scott Fitzgerald portrayed in both of his works, “Winter Dreams” and “A Letter to His Daughter”. I feel like that his work not only teach people moral lessons, but also portrayed his wonderful skills in writing. That’s why I chose “The Great Gatsby” as another book to read this year. I want to read more books from F. Scott Fitzgerald. 


(All photos are from Pinterest)