How Did Winter Dreams Influence The Great Gatsby

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F. Scott Fitzgerald bases his books on his personal life. The themes connecting Fitzgerald to his stories, The Great Gatsby and “Winter Dreams,” are influenced by his own experiences. Fitzgerald models his characters Gatsby and Dexter after himself and his emotions. The seductive power of money alongside the influence of women over men are common flaws shared by Fitzgerald and the characters in his books. F. Scott Fitzgerald struggles to keep up with the extravagant lifestyles of the 1920s. He has dreams to become famous and did not want to be a failure like his father. Fitzgerald envies everything wealthy; he wanted a taste of the lavish parties, huge mansions, and expensive cars. At a party, Fitzgerald is introduced to a wild, seventeen-year-old…show more content…
While in the military Gatsby meets Daisy Fay, who is “the most popular of all young girls in Louisville” (Gatsby 74). He becomes enamored immediately. Gatsby leaves for the war, but he comes back to find her married to “Tom Buchanan of Chicago”; Gatsby is grief stricken (Gatsby 78). He is determined to impress Daisy and win her back. To do this, he needs to become wealthy to suit her East Egg lifestyle. Most people assume that Gatsby was into shady business because a lot of “the newly rich are just big bootleggers” (Gatsby 107). With his new fortune, Gatsby buys a mansion on the water “so that Daisy would be just across the bay” (Gatsby 78). When Gatsby and Daisy are reunited for the first time in five years, Gatsby is ecstatic. Gatsby dreams that he will “fix everything to the way it was before” (Gatsby 110). Instead, nothing changes, not even Gatsby’s love for Daisy. Daisy eventually stays with Tom and Gatsby’s “presumptuous little flirtation is over” (Gatsby 115). At that point Gatsby realizes that there is no hope for a future with Daisy, yet he cannot help the love yearns for her. This shows the immense power that women held over him and the extremes he was willing to go to obtain
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