Toni Morrison Winter Dreamstatif

Comparison of “Winter Dreams and Recitatif”
Toni Morrison was a twentieth century writer, and still a current day writer. She was lauded as a writer "who in novels characterized by visionary force and poetic import, gives life to an essential aspect of American reality." (Burton Blooms) It takes a very careful reader to actually get the contents of Morrison’s works because of the depth of her creativity. F. Scott Fitzgerald was also an early twentieth century writer. He was also as creative as Morrison because they both use fiction. In contrary, Morrison did not really lay emphasis on time and place in where she lived, but Fitzgerald did. As stated by Burton, “Fitzgerald produced fiction, not memoirs, so you must be careful to approach
the texts on their own terms.” (Blooms) In contrast, the authors use similar literary devices in their short stories “Winter Dreams”, written by Fitzgerald and “Recitatif” by Toni Morrison. These short stories both have similar themes, imagery and characterization and by comparing them, readers can better understand that self-contentment plays a very big role in individuals’ lives.
In both short stories, the two characters Dexter Green and Roberta both found life unpleasant while they were younger, but unfortunately for them .What they had thought would bring joy to them in life did not really turn out that way they had thought. In the short story “Winter Dreams,” by Fitzgerald, Dexter Green was a caddy at a country club when he was younger, although Dexter was happy with what he had done for a living.Not until he met Judy Jones who made him feel inferior and made him hate his job. Dexter Green said, “I don’t want to caddy anymore.” (Fitzgerald 1) Dexter felt he was too old for a caddy. As also stated in the short story, Fitzgerald said, “Some of the caddies were poor as sin and lived in one room houses…Dexter Green’s father owned the second best grocery-store in Black Bear.” (Fitzgerald 1) His father owned a grocery store but he was still considered a middle class. Working as a caddy for the upper class was somewhat shameful for him because he was nowhere close to that type of life as much as he had tried to blend in this wealthy world. In the beginning of the story, Dexter was treated with disgust by Judy Jones and the rest of the upper class men. In “Recitatif,” Roberta was put in a shelter by her mom and she could not also read. Just as stated in the short story “Recitatif,” Twyla the narrator said, “My mother danced all night and Roberta’s was sick. That’s why we were taken to St. Bonny’s.” (Fitzgerald 1) Her mother was ill so the only option for her mom was to put her in a shelter together with other girls. Every girl except for Roberta is unable to read. This made Roberta feel ashamed of herself when she was a younger. These examples made the two characters feel embarrassed of themselves when they were younger because they were not as good as the other people around them.
In addition, imagery is a similarity that could be found in both of these short stories. In “Recitatif,” Toni Morrison uses “Racial imagery.” It is really hard for readers to understand the race of the two characters in some parts in the story, Roberta is being described as a black character, but later on, the author Toni Morrison switched up the description as if she were a white character. Twyla said, “She was sitting in a booth smoking a cigarette with two guys smothered in head and facial hair. Her hair was so big and wild I could hardly see her face…..earrings the size of a bracelets.” (Morrison 6) The way Roberta is being described; the reader can easily infer she is a black character because of the description of her hair looking all wild as it were to be an Afro. Also, the size of her earrings would also convince the reader she is a black character, but towards the end of the story, she was being described as if she were white. Twyla said, “The woman leaning toward me was dressed to kill. Diamonds on her hand, a smart white summer dress.” (Morrison 8) During the time period this short story was written, it is rare for a black woman to be rich and get married to a computer scientist. This description of Roberta will not only convince the reader that she might be a white character, but it also confuses the reader because now the reader is “Brain fried”. However, one of the images found in “Winter Dreams,” is the description of the “Boat.” As stated in the short story “Winter Dreams”, Judy Jones said, “And in that house there is a man waiting for me. When he drove up at the door I drove out of the dock because he says I’m his new ideal.” (Fitzgerald 7) Judy Jones used the boat as a way for her to escape the way men wanted her life to fit in their own life and commitment.
Furthermore, both of the author uses the same style of characterization in their short stories.
In “Recitatif,” Roberta was considered a round character because she continually switches up her attitude towards Twyla like she had never in her life met Twyla before. Twyla said, “She lit a cigarette off the one she’d just finished and said, We’re on our way to the coast. He’s got an appointment with Hendrix.” (Morrison 7) This happened when Twyla met Roberta in Howard Johnson’s. Roberta acted like she had never met Twyla before. As time had gone by, they came in contact with each other in a store when Twyla was waiting in the check-out line. Roberta had called out her name. This time, Roberta had on an expression of remembrance. This is showing her change in character. Also in the short story “Winter Dreams,” Dexter Green was also a round character because in the beginning of the story, when he was still a middle class guy, he was less stressed out about fitting in into the economic class of Judy Jones. However, as he had met Judy Jones, he then became worried about acquiring wealth and becoming that perfect guy. This put a lot of stress on his shoulder because now he has to be more concentrated on pleasing Judy, and in the end, his plans did not turn out as he has hoped for. This shows how Dexter’s character
changed.
In conclusion, the themes, imagery and characterizations in the stories are very alike. Both the characters Dexter and Roberta found life unpleasant when they were younger as children life was not as interesting as it ought to be for these characters. In the short stories “Winter Dreams by Fitzgerald” and “Recitatif by Toni Morrison” the two authors did use imagery. Toni Morrison laid emphasis on “Racial imagery,” while Fitzgerald focused on the “Golf Ball.”. The two authors also used the same characterization technique in that both authors were round characters. Happiness cannot be created for a short period of time just as the two characters had thought wealth would have brought them happiness. Being contented with what you have and who you are play a big role in an individual’s life because then you have a high self esteem about your self, and a lot of people would look up to you as their role model because of the level of confidence you have in yourself.