How “Winter Dreams” by F. Scott Fitzgerald Represents The 1920s
What were the 1920s like? During the 1920s, women became more free and in control of themselves. Women began to be more promiscuous and to dress differently. Many young people lived lives that were less proper and more fast-paced. This era gave birth to women who totally rejected the social norms for women, known today as flappers. These women lived fast lives and participated in things that were considered improper, such as promiscuity, smoking, drinking, listening to jazz, and driving automobiles. “Winter Dreams” by F. Scott Fitzgerald illustrates that, during the 1920s, it became more socially acceptable for women to live only for self-gratification and momentary thrills. …show more content…
Scott Fitzgerald was an extremely good author with an extremely turbulent life. Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born September 24,1896 in St Paul, Minnesota. His mother was Mary Mcquillan. Edward Fitzgerald, his father, had a wicker furniture business, but started working for Proctor and Gamble when his business failed. Fitzgerald attended St. Paul Academy, Newman School, and Princeton University. In 1917, he decided to drop out of school and go to fight in World War 1. During the war, he became afraid that he would die, and wrote The Romantic Egotist while at war. Later he was made the second lieutenant in the infantry and sent to camp Sheridan by Montgomery, Alabama. Here, he met Zelda Sayre, who was just 18 years old and the daughter of a Supreme Court Judge. After the war, and fighting for her attention, he married her, but later sank into depression and became an alcoholic, leading his wife to have a mental breakdown and to be admitted into three different mental hospitals. His drinking got worse the older he got. Throughout his life, he wrote many stories. Some of them are The Great Gatsby, The Beautiful and The Damned, This Side of Paradise and “Winter Dreams” (Biography.com). His novels and stories were not popular during his time, therefore he saw himself as a failure. He died when he was 44 due to heart failure. He lived an interesting, but hectic life. Through his novels, he showed exactly what living in the 1920s was like. Today, many people admire his …show more content…
Throughout the short story, Judy has various suitors and does not stay with one man at at a time. She has a very specific type: rich and handsome. She shows this by straight up asking Dexter when she invites him over to dinner, “Are you poor”(pg.7)? When he says no, he’s been making lots of money, she gets closer to him and becomes more flirty. Later, she tells him that “ Last night, I thought I was in love with a man and tonight, I think I’m in love with you” (pg. 8). She bosses them around and plays with their hearts by telling them she loves them, then abandoning them when another man comes around. This story is a very classic example of the attitude women had toward men in the 1920s. She has no inhibitions telling him she loves him, even though she just met him. Judy is perfectly okay kissing him and professing love to him on their first date, then finding another man the next day. She constantly goes between him and several other guys, which demonstrates the way a lot of women became more free with their expression of love. She plays up the fact that she’s beautiful to get guys to like her, which is how a lot of women during this time acted. Judy Jones’s promiscuity and casual attitude about the expression of love embodies the attitude of women during the
What were the 1920s like? During the 1920s, women became more free and in control of themselves. Women began to be more promiscuous and to dress differently. Many young people lived lives that were less proper and more fast-paced. This era gave birth to women who totally rejected the social norms for women, known today as flappers. These women lived fast lives and participated in things that were considered improper, such as promiscuity, smoking, drinking, listening to jazz, and driving automobiles. “Winter Dreams” by F. Scott Fitzgerald illustrates that, during the 1920s, it became more socially acceptable for women to live only for self-gratification and momentary thrills. …show more content…
Scott Fitzgerald was an extremely good author with an extremely turbulent life. Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born September 24,1896 in St Paul, Minnesota. His mother was Mary Mcquillan. Edward Fitzgerald, his father, had a wicker furniture business, but started working for Proctor and Gamble when his business failed. Fitzgerald attended St. Paul Academy, Newman School, and Princeton University. In 1917, he decided to drop out of school and go to fight in World War 1. During the war, he became afraid that he would die, and wrote The Romantic Egotist while at war. Later he was made the second lieutenant in the infantry and sent to camp Sheridan by Montgomery, Alabama. Here, he met Zelda Sayre, who was just 18 years old and the daughter of a Supreme Court Judge. After the war, and fighting for her attention, he married her, but later sank into depression and became an alcoholic, leading his wife to have a mental breakdown and to be admitted into three different mental hospitals. His drinking got worse the older he got. Throughout his life, he wrote many stories. Some of them are The Great Gatsby, The Beautiful and The Damned, This Side of Paradise and “Winter Dreams” (Biography.com). His novels and stories were not popular during his time, therefore he saw himself as a failure. He died when he was 44 due to heart failure. He lived an interesting, but hectic life. Through his novels, he showed exactly what living in the 1920s was like. Today, many people admire his …show more content…
Throughout the short story, Judy has various suitors and does not stay with one man at at a time. She has a very specific type: rich and handsome. She shows this by straight up asking Dexter when she invites him over to dinner, “Are you poor”(pg.7)? When he says no, he’s been making lots of money, she gets closer to him and becomes more flirty. Later, she tells him that “ Last night, I thought I was in love with a man and tonight, I think I’m in love with you” (pg. 8). She bosses them around and plays with their hearts by telling them she loves them, then abandoning them when another man comes around. This story is a very classic example of the attitude women had toward men in the 1920s. She has no inhibitions telling him she loves him, even though she just met him. Judy is perfectly okay kissing him and professing love to him on their first date, then finding another man the next day. She constantly goes between him and several other guys, which demonstrates the way a lot of women became more free with their expression of love. She plays up the fact that she’s beautiful to get guys to like her, which is how a lot of women during this time acted. Judy Jones’s promiscuity and casual attitude about the expression of love embodies the attitude of women during the