Social Meaning in Fitzgerald Literature Often times fictional writing can be interpreted as commentary on the condition of humans and society. The work of F. Scott Fitzgerald is no exception to this principle. His most renowned novel, The Great Gatsby, is known for it’s demonstration of a society dictated by money, idealism, and love. Fewer know, however, about Fitzgerald’s earlier work named Winter Dreams. This short story about the life of an ambitious man named Dexter Green shares strong thematic topics with the tragic story of Jay Gatsby.
Although the fatal flaws of Dexter Green and Jay Gatsby differ, the derived themes of perception versus reality and the corruption of the American Dream make it evident that F. Scott Fitgerald in fact intended Winter Dreams to be the prototype of The Great Gatsby. Dexter Green and Jay Gatsby’s contrasting defects may be the aspect that makes Winter Dreams and The Great Gatsby seem different at first glance. The fatal flaw that brings Dexter Green to his ultimate despair is his inability to define who he is. As Fitzgerald points out, “Often [Dexter] reached out for the best without knowing why he wanted it” (WD 3).
It is this lifestyle that results in Dexter’s rapid economic success, but also leads to the confusion that surrounds his life. Often in the story, Dexter cannot decide whether to embrace the humility of his past or the prosperity of his present. For example, when Dexter goes to the Sherry Island Golf Club with his new, wealthy friends, Fitzgerald writes, “One minute he had the sense of being a trespasser–in the next he was impressed by the tremendous superiority he felt toward Mr. T. A. Hendrick” (WD 4). It is this lost sense of self that disturbs Dexter in the end because he eventually realizes that he is trapped in his present self.
When he sees that he can no longer be with Judy Jones, Dexter is upset because he knows that “he had gone away and he could never go back anymore” (WD 14). This fatal flaw differs with Jay Gatsby’s conflict. What leads to Gatsby’s demise is that he cannot distinguish materialistic achievements from traditional values. This attribute is revealed when Fitzgerald writes, “[Gatsby] must be about His Father’s business, the service of a vast, vulgar, and meretricious beauty” (GG 98). In Gatsby’s eyes, the wealth that he obtains is his way of avoiding morality in his conquest to achieve all that he desires.
The most prominent example of this is his pursuit of Daisy. As Fitzgerald explains, “[Gatsby] had wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she should go to Tom and say: ‘I never loved you’” (GG 109). Despite Gatsby’s confidence, the reality is that Daisy values the stability of a relationship with Tom more than the glamour of a relationship with Gatsby. It is this illusion that keeps Gatsby from making any valuable relationship in his life. Evidently, while Winter Dreams is the prototype for The Great Gatsby, the differing conflicts of the characters is what separates them.
Although the fatal flaws of Green and Gatsby may be different, the theme of perception versus reality can easily be extracted from both stories. The greatest reality that Dexter Green fails to see is the fact that Judy Jones is not the ideal person that his mind makes her to be. This begins to be evident on their first date when Fitzgerald writes, “She wore a blue silk afternoon dress, and he was disappointed at first that she had not put on something more elaborate… He had rather expected a butler to announce dinner” (WD 6).
Although Green acknowledges this, he still pursues her for this “charm” that he repeatedly attributes to her. This illusion continues to the end, when Devlin describes how he sees Judy as a normal, if not a lower than average woman, and Dexter cannot believe it (WD 13-14). Similarly, Jay Gatsby’s perception of Daisy is far from reality. For example, during Gatsby’s reuniting with Daisy, Fitzgerald explains, “There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of [Gatsby’s] dreams–not through her own fault, but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion” (GG 95).
This trust that Gatsby has in his perception lasts even after it is clear that Daisy loves Tom. Once Daisy is at home with Tom, Gatsby still expects her to come out and leave with him even though there is an “unmistakeable air of natural intimacy” among Daisy and her husband (GG 145). Gatsby’s trust in his perception lasts until his tragic death, emphasizing the lasting power of perception. Both stories show how love and idealism can alter perception in a tragic way. Such a precise parallel in theme shows how The Great Gatsby is undoubtedly an adaptation from Winter Dreams.
In addition to the theme of perception versus reality, Fitzgerald makes a powerful commentary on the corruption of the American Dream in both stories. This message is delivered in many ways, including the use of social class and the exposing of character motivations. In Winter Dreams, Dexter Green strives to become a social elite like the wealthy men around him. When Dexter sees men like this at Judy’s house, Fitzgerald writes, “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” (WD 6). This passage reveals that although Dexter acknowledges the hollowness of the rich, he still pursues it and wishes it for his children. Fitzgerald is demonstrating how the original American Dream, a dream involving hard work and personal achievement, inevitably evolves into a dream of meaningless wealth and image. He also shows how this corruption spreads to all aspects of society.
For example Judy Jones explains why she left her boyfriend when she says, “‘This afternoon he told me out of a clear sky that he was as poor as a church-mouse… Does this sound horribly mundane? ’” (WD 7). Fitzgerald sees America as a place being consumed by wealth, and there is no question that he displays this message in The Great Gatsby as well. In the novel, Jay Gatsby is the symbol of an American Dream that collapses due to immoral and unachievable goals. One prime example is Gatsby’s attempt to disconnect from his childhood as James Gatz.
As Fitzgerald explains, “I suppose [Gatz] had the name (Jay Gatsby) ready for a long time, even then. His parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people–his imagination had never really accepted them as his parents at all” (98). To Gatsby, a vital part of the American Dream is to not be happy with who you are and instead create someone entirely new. This path eventually leads Gatsby in the wrong direction. It becomes evident that some things are simply unattainable, like marrying Daisy, because it is truly impossible to escape one’s past.
This idea connects to old money and new money, a classification repeatedly referred to in the novel, like in the description of East Egg and West Egg (5). Someone’s past determines whether one is old or new money, and each type has it’s lasting effects. At the end of the novel, Daisy chooses to stay with Tom because he is old money and therefore economically stable. Not only does the past truly matter, but again Fitzgerald shows how wealth is the integral part of American society.
Overall, Winter Dreams and The Great Gatsby both display a corruption of the American Dream into the concepts of materialism and never being happy for who you really are, further proving that they are interconnected stories. Despite the fact that Dexter and Gatsby are conflicted with different fatal flaws, the themes of perception versus reality and the corruption of the American Dream are similarly extracted from both stories. This makes it evident that Fitzgerald used Winter Dreams as a rough draft for The Great Gatsby for vital thematic purposes.
These controversial themes are examples of Modernist literature, a movement that strives to criticize social meaning in society. Through Dexter and Gatsby’s frustration with social status, the problems with the facades of the rich and the trap of poverty become clear. Unfortunately for these characters, the illusion stayed until it was too late. In Fitzgerald’s works and other Modernist literature, the mission is to show how social illusions result in tragedy and that disillusionment is the only remedy to social struggle.
