Preview

The American Dream In Dexter's Winter Dreams

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
191 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The American Dream In Dexter's Winter Dreams
In “Winter Dreams” Dexter lost a number of years of his life pursuing material success due to the American Dream. Though Dexter came from a humble background, he saw potential in what his life could be. He thought being wealthy meant being happy. As a young man, Dexter always dreamed of beating Mr. Hedrick at golf. Years later, when the time finally came and Dexter did beat Mr. Hedrick, he received very little joy from the act. From being a caddy boy to receiving a weekend guest pass to the esteemed country club, Dexter somehow manages to think he doesn't belong, but that he is also superior to the men he is surrounded by because he worked for what he got. When Judy comes in the picture, he pursues her to validate his entrance into the upper

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the short story “Winter Dreams” we see the main conflict of Dexter mentally fighting with himself over the desire for material success, and the emotional desire to feel the love of his one “true” girl Judy. Throughout the story we see many examples of this internal war. Many examples of the desire for the material success are shown throughout the reading. We see on page 731 that dexter started out as a coded to try to earn good money.…

    • 263 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Yes America does still provide the American Dream. Most people don 't think the American Dream is still available. Even though America may still provide access to the American Dream through hard work, opportunities, and inalienable rights, we, as people, still need to go out and seek the American Dream.…

    • 706 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In many pieces of American literature, one of the most frequently discussed topics, whether it be blatant to a reader or well camouflaged, is that of The American Dream. Specifically, the perfect “American” life is one of hard work and dedication, meant to turn such work into reward in the form of prosperity and happiness for the worker. In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote, is a prime example of the use of the concept of The American Dream. Capote perfectly encapsulates the fragility of The American Dream by building up an image of the flawless American family, living surrounded by riches that included more than money, and then taking great care in describing the details of their demise. Through one night of misfortune, a family, nearly the epitome of The American Dream, was torn apart for the entirety of less than fifty dollars. Capote also capitalizes on the despondent fact that those who caused the downfall of “The American Dream”, were the very denizen on the other side of it all.…

    • 805 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Janie learns that material security is not necessary to be happy through her relationships with Logan and his wealth, Joe Starks with his political authority and wealth and Tea Cake with his young and outgoing nature. There is one important thing the text teaches the reader. One is that to live a happy life, you must live your dreams and marry someone because you love them, not because of their financial security or material possessions. Humans will always continue to battle with symbiotic and non-symbiotic relationships in…

    • 1586 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    What is the true purpose of the American Dream? Through her play A Raisin in the sun, Loraine Hansberry tries to educate readers that we not only dream for the sake of accomplishment, we also dream for the promise of hope. Each person has a different vision in regards to the American Dream, but one commonality between every goal is the motivation it brings. We all deal with difficulties in life and, as reflected in the title, we are like raisins in the sun, shriveling up unless we have a cloud of imagination to protect us from doubt and despair. In every society there are those who "only see the circle," the repetitive cycle represented by the sun that prevents dreams and improvement; but the circle does not exist. As Asagai explains, the…

    • 272 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In “The Futile Pursuit of the American Dream,” Ehrenreich challenges the white-collar unemployed world to see what it is really like and expose the unfairness of that world. She makes misleading efforts to get a job by disrespecting and complaining to the people that she wants for them to hire her, she tries to find people who can guarantee her ideas and tries to get a job in PR since that is closest to being a journalist. She also created a resume filling it with lies that have some sort of realistic fact about her life, and tries to figure out how to hide her skilled accomplishments to find friends who are willing to lie about her employment history.…

    • 195 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The promise of America is also what those refer to as “The American Dream.” In other words, it is what foreigners believe will lead them to a “better life.” This includes jobs, housing, and the most significant, freedom. Freedom of speech, freedom of religion, etc. These more accessible opportunities is what makes “the dream” so enticing, so desired. This also means having their children, and the generations to come, grow up in an environment superior to that of which they would have grown up in before which is exactly the reason they have come all this way in search of “The Promise of America.”…

    • 499 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The American Dream is the dream of many people living and immigrating to America. Everyone has his or her own personal dream, but not everyone can attain the American Dream. There are a lot of different reasons as to why the dream cannot be attained. An example of this is can be found in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. George, Lennie, and Candy have obstacles in their way that was keeping them from attaining the American Dream.…

    • 733 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the play “ Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller, presents a common view of the American dream. The main character, Willy Loman, struggles to become a successful salesman; he’s trying to make himself feel better by lie to his family and himself. He holds onto a strong belief in the American dream.Willy cannot face the reality and begins to daydream how to success. Although he gets fired by his boss, Willy never seems to give up on his dream, and refuse to accept a job that Howard offered to him in order to retain his pride. In this play, Miller creates a character in Willy, whose determination, belief, and dreaming illustrate the person within a capitalistic society.…

    • 828 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The journey of man, the Age of exploration, driven not only by pursuits of wealth, glory, and freedom; but also of human curiosity. An ambitious endeavor; a path filled with peril and failures, leading to fulfilment of dreams. A dream in which each man conquers the world around them, accounting for their experience of success, perseverance, obstacles, and failures which in a multitude of ways reflects the ideas of the American Dream: a dream of being able to grow to fullest development as a man and woman, unhampered by the barriers which had slowly been erected in older civilizations. These men embark on speculations of the New World, in search of riches, freedoms, creeds, and sciences.…

    • 570 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the play Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, the playwright targets the theme of The American Dream and how it affects Willy and his family. Miller uses this time period to help develop the theme of The American Dream within the play. In 1949, America experienced an economic boom due to their success in WWII. Miller uses the character of Willy to demonstrate to the audience what the average individual in America was going through. Willy uses Biff as a representation of himself to reflect and symbolize on his ideal of the American…

    • 748 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    As Dillard is coming-of-age, feeling alive is critical because it gives her freedom. After throwing a snowball at a car, Dillard and the boys are being pursued by…

    • 1114 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The phenomenon of American dream is widely known all around the world. Although, there is no clear definition or precise interpretation of the term, almost every human being dreams about it. The essay is to set out to discuss what the American dream is and how it is understood.…

    • 365 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The American Dream

    • 2100 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Generally considered that the American Dream consists of a healthy family, a well-paying job and a sturdy home. A lot of people dream about it and use all their opportunities to achieve it. However, the socioeconomic situation of the United States is an obstacle to this ideal. The characters who inhabit Raymond Carver’s Cathedral are blue-collar Americans confused and illusioned by the hollow image of an American dream they see on the TV screen every night. Denis Johnson’s protagonists, however, have never heard of an American dream, and are certainly not devoted to achieving it; their lives slip by a state of alcoholism and drug use and futures become brutally shapeless. Their despairs and disappointments are displaced instead through drug addiction, alcoholism, infidelity and unemployment. Nonetheless, there are rare but genuine pulses of hope in both authors’ stories. (Carvarian people find their own ways to communicate and affect each other in order to survive in this brutal world. Johnson’s character is influenced by his own experience and surroundings; his sparks of hope occur while he is on his journey to recovery.) Despite the fallacy of the American Dream, the characters of Denis Johnson and Raymond Carver have occasional moments of hope, either in the struggle to achieve the American Dream, or in spite of it.…

    • 2100 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The concept of the American Dream has been around us since the foundation of America and is largely what forms it. This ideal embraces fundamental freedoms that are endowed to each person. It strives for freedom, opportunity, and entrepreneurship for all people. Two television series that incorporate this principle are Dexter and Breaking Bad. Dexter focuses on a blood splatter analyst named Dexter who works to find clues/evidence in crime scenes by day, and secretly is a vigilante serial killer by night. Breaking Bad encompasses a chemistry teacher named Walter White who finds out that he has contracted lung cancer and must find a way to pay for his medical bills. Given his expertise with chemical properties, he decides to cook and sell the illegal and hazardous drug, methamphetamine. Both television shows Breaking Bad and Dexter criticize and portray ideals of the American Dream in their sophisticated plots and character portrayals.…

    • 927 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays