Skip to main content

What is the significance of the Jones' house at the end of Part IV?

F. Scott Fitzgerald uses the home of Mortimer Jones as a symbol at the end of Part IV of his short story “Winter Dreams.”


As an adolescent Dexter idolized all that Mortimer Jones stood for, and as a young man he longed for a relationship with Mortimer’s daughter, Judith Jones. Dexter planned his adult life to emulate the likes of Mortimer Jones as he worked to be rich, successful, and accepted by high society.


At...

F. Scott Fitzgerald uses the home of Mortimer Jones as a symbol at the end of Part IV of his short story “Winter Dreams.”


As an adolescent Dexter idolized all that Mortimer Jones stood for, and as a young man he longed for a relationship with Mortimer’s daughter, Judith Jones. Dexter planned his adult life to emulate the likes of Mortimer Jones as he worked to be rich, successful, and accepted by high society.


At the end of Part IV, Dexter is driving Judith Jones home. When he pulls up in front of the house he is struck by its architectural permanence. This permanence and rigid construction are the opposite of Judith’s temperament and fleeting beauty. The house is a permanent testament to the wealth and success Dexter aspired to, but in this scene he can feel the hollowness of the structure.  This portends the hollowness of Judith’s character as she pulled him away from a stable relationship back into his fantasy world of life with the beautiful yet fickle Judith, who was a flighty as a “butterfly.”



The dark street lightened, the dwellings of the rich loomed up around them, he stopped his coup_ in front of the great white bulk of the Mortimer Joneses house, somnolent, gorgeous,


drenched with the splendor of the damp moonlight. Its solidity startled him. The strong walls, the steel of the girders, the breadth and beam and pomp of it were there only to bring out the contrast with the young beauty beside him. It was sturdy to accentuate her slightness--as if to show what a breeze could be generated by a butterfly's wing.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What is the meaning of "juggling fiends" in Macbeth?

Macbeth is beginning to realize that the three witches have been deceiving him since he first encountered them. Like jugglers, they have kept changing their forecasts in order create confusion. This is particularly apparent when the Second Apparition they raise in Act IV,   Scene 1 tells him that no man of woman born can overcome him in hand-to-hand battle--and then Macbeth finds himself confronted by the one man he has been avoiding out of a... Macbeth is beginning to realize that the three witches have been deceiving him since he first encountered them. Like jugglers, they have kept changing their forecasts in order create confusion. This is particularly apparent when the Second Apparition they raise in Act IV,   Scene 1 tells him that no man of woman born can overcome him in hand-to-hand battle--and then Macbeth finds himself confronted by the one man he has been avoiding out of a sense of guilt, and that man tells him: Despair thy charm. And let the angel whom thou still hast serve...
Post a Comment
Read more

What are some external and internal conflicts that Montag has in Fahrenheit 451?

 Montag, the protagonist of Fahrenheit 451, faces both external and internal conflicts throughout the novel. Some examples of these conflicts are: External Conflicts: Conflict with the society: Montag lives in a society that prohibits books and critical thinking. He faces opposition from the government and the people who enforce this law. Montag struggles to come to terms with the fact that his society is based on censorship and control. Conflict with his wife: Montag's wife, Mildred, is completely absorbed in the shallow and meaningless entertainment provided by the government. Montag's growing dissatisfaction with his marriage adds to his external conflict. Conflict with the fire captain: Montag's superior, Captain Beatty, is the personification of the oppressive regime that Montag is fighting against. Montag's struggle against Beatty represents his external conflict with the government. Internal Conflicts: Conflict with his own beliefs: Montag, at the beginning of th...
Post a Comment
Read more

In A People's History of the United States, why does Howard Zinn feel that Wilson made a flimsy argument for entering World War I?

"War is the health of the state," the radical writer Randolph Bourne said, in the midst of the First World War. Indeed, as the nations of Europe went to war in 1914, the governments flourished, patriotism bloomed, class struggle was stilled, and young men died in frightful numbers on the battlefields-often for a hundred yards of land, a line of trenches. -- Chapter 14, Page 350, A People's History of the United States Howard Zinn outlines his arguments for why World War I was fought in the opening paragraph of Chapter 14 (referenced above). The nationalism that was created by the Great War benefited the elite political and financial leadership of the various countries involved. Socialism, which was gaining momentum in Europe, as was class struggle, took a backseat to mobilizing for war. Zinn believes that World War I was fought for the gain of the industrial capitalists of Europe in a competition for capital and resources. He states that humanity itself was punished by t...
Post a Comment
Read more