Winter Dreams and The American Dream

Teacher’s Name
Student’s Name
Class
Date
Contradiction in ‘The Great Gatsby’ and ‘The American Dream’ by F. Scott Fitzgerald
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s books are often strewn with the search for the American dream. Top among his works with this theme is ‘The Great Gatsby’ and ‘The Winter Dreams’. The works are largely similar. They follow the paths of young men who were falling love with women who are well above their means. In the desire to make them happy, these young men struggle to achieve material wealth and they successful mobilize towards the upper social class. However, there is a single contradiction to the two works. In ‘The Great Gatsby’, the protagonist ends in a self-destructive life which dooms him eternally/. However, in ‘the winter dream’ the protagonist is allowed to rediscover his value and change his life.
Gatsby is born poor and struggles to become rich. One rich, he lives near Daisy, a childhood fantasy aspiring to entice her into her relationship. Eventually, he gets her, and at one point she agrees to flee with him. However, he is not satisfied with her current affection and refuses unless she declares that she is not in love with Tom Fitzgerald1. Ultimately, he dies, and she continues to live with Tom. On the other hand, Green is born in the middle class and having encountered Judy Jones; he dedicates all his life to become rich enough to be worthy of her love. Within their short relationship, he discovers her deception and therefore struggles to free himself from it.

The struggle is so great that he eventually joins the war to keep himself preoccupied Fitzgerald2. Meanwhile, he rediscovers his value and therefore acknowledges that his teenage hood fantasy is not worth it. The Great Gatsby, therefore, presents the unrealistic expectations of the American Dream and the cynicism born of it while The Winter Dream suggests how American can grow from the unrealistic expectations and get to work that can bear a hopeful future.

Works Cited
Fitzgerald, Francis Scott. The Great Gatsby. Aegitas, 2016. Print.
Fitzgerald, Francis Scott. Winter Dreams. Booklassic, 2015. Print.