Similarities Between Winter Dreams And The Great Gatsby

Scott Fitzgerald once wrote, “Show me a hero and I will write you a tragedy.” His novel, The Great Gatsby, is a perfect manifestation of this idea. The main character, Gatsby is revered as a heroic figure by the story’s narrator, Nick Carraway. However, to attain this quality, Gatsby led a disastrous life constantly affected by the overwhelming pressure to attain his dream and ultimately fell to his death. The Great Gatsby is told from the point of view of Nick, a businessman, who lives next door to Gatsby’s residence. Gatsby throws extravagant parties and becomes a friend to Nick, who soon finds himself caught amidst interwoven conflicts in relationships. His cousin, Daisy is torn between her cheating husband, Tom, and her past love, Gatsby.

Despite Dexter Green’s overwhelming resemblance of Gatsby, there are also numerous, subtle similarities to Nick. “A sort of dullness settled down upon Dexter. For the first time in his life he felt like getting very drunk.” (Winter Dreams 9). In addition to both of the characters originating from middle-class families in Minnesota, they also rarely, or never get drunk. It is revealed that Dexter has never been drunk, and in The Great Gatsby, Nick describes his encounter with alcohol at Tom’s apartment as being only the second time he has been drunk. “The little girl who had done this was eleven-beautifully ugly as little girls are apt to be who are destined after a few years to be inexpressibly lovely and bring no end of misery to a great number of men. The spark, however, was perceptible.” (Winter Dreams 1). As the text states, Dexter fell in love with Judy Jones, a golfer when he saw her playing with her nanny as he caddied one afternoon. Judy was also spoiled and rude. Similarly, Nick falls in love with Jordan, another golfer who has rude and selfish characteristics. The resemblance of Nick in Dexter Green suggests that Winter Dreams served as a rough draft of The Great