Ambition In F. Scott Fitzgerald's Winter Dreams

Human ambitions are necessary to succeed in life. Therefore, without a strong desire to acquire something or achieve a goal, humans would not be able to evolve socially and academically. However, F. Scott Fitzgerald addresses that possessing too much ambition can cloud people’s intuitions and hinder their path to success in his short story “Winter Dreams.” In the story, Dexter Green, an ambitious, power-hungry fourteen-year-old boy who lives in luxury desires Judy Jones; a spoiled and manipulative eleven-year-old girl who possesses the predominance that Dexter craves for. But as the story continues further, Dexter’s desire for Judy’s predominance alters into a desire for her beauty. Through Dexter’s character, Fitzgerald uses symbolism, juxtapositions, and repetition to portray that ambition impairs one’s judgments. In the beginning of the story, Fitzgerald

Towards the end, after Judy Jones is married with another man, Dexter finally accepts the fact that he has lost Judy, and he is never able to ever obtain her. He grieves “’Long ago, there was something in me, but now that thing is gone. Now that thing is gone, that thing is gone. I cannot cry. That thing will come back no more’” (Fitzgerald 14). Fitzgerald repeats “That thing is gone” over and over again to emphasize the phrase and ensure that the readers know that he is intentionally emphasizing it. The phrase “That thing is gone” holds significance that Dexter lost his chance with love and he ends up in grief, but Dexter continues to let himself be obscured by his obsession for Judy as he stresses himself over not being able to achieve his securing Judy. Dexter locks himself in a never ending loop of despair and regret for not accomplishing his dream. Fitzgerald further reminds his readers that too much ambition can result in dissatisfaction by leading them on through blurred