Winter Dreams Summary Summary (Comprehensive Guide to Short Stories, Critical Edition) F Scott Fitzgerald divides “Winter Dreams” into six episodes In the first, fourteen-year-old Dexter Green, whose father owns the “second best” grocery store in Black Bear Lake, Minnesota, has been earning thirty dollars a month pocket money caddying at the Sherry Island Golf Club He is responsible and honest, touted by at least one wealthy patron as the “best caddy in the club.” His decision to quit his job comes suddenly—proclaimed, to incredulous protests, to be the result of his having got “too old.” Such public excuse masks the real and private reason: Dexter has just been smitten head-over-heels by the willful, artificial, and radiant eleven-year-old Judy Jones, who, with her nurse, shows up at the club carrying five new golf clubs in a white canvas bag and demanding a caddy Dexter watches her engage in a sudden and passionate altercation with the nurse, which piques his interest and works to align him with Judy He not only sympathizes with her but also senses that an equally sudden and violent act on his part (his resignation) can be the only possible response to the “strong emotional shock” of his infatuation In the second episode, which takes place nine years later, Dexter has become a successful entrepreneur in the business world His laundries cater to moneyed patrons by specializing in fine woolen golf stockings and women’s lingerie Playing golf one afternoon with men for whom he once caddied, Dexter contemplates his humble past by studying the caddies serving his party, but the reverie is broken when a golf ball hits one of the men in his party in the stomach It was driven by Judy Jones, now an “arrestingly beautiful” woman of twenty, who, with her partner, nonchalantly plays through Dexter’s foursome After an early-evening swim, Dexter is resting on the raft farthest from the club and enjoying strains of piano music from across the lake Judy approaches by motorboat, introducing herself and requesting that Dexter drive the boat so that she can ride behind on a surfboard, making clear that she is dallying to delay returning home, where a young man is waiting for her The encounter ends with her offhand invitation to Dexter to join her for dinner the following night In the third episode, visions of Judy’s past beaux flit through Dexter’s mind as he waits downstairs for Judy, dressed in his most elegant suit When she does appear, though, Dexter is disappointed that she is not dressed more elaborately In addition, her depression disturbs him, and when, after dinner, she confides that the cause of it lies in her discovery that a man she cared for had no money, Dexter is able to reveal matter-of-factly that he is perhaps the richest man of his age in the Northwest Judy responds to this information with excited kisses The fourth episode forms the culmination of Judy’s tantalizing and irresistible charm It shows a dozen men, Dexter among them, circulating around her at any given moment, always entranced, alternately in and out of her favor After experiencing three ecstatic days of heady mutual attraction following their first dinner, Dexter is devastated to realize that Judy’s attentions and affections are being turned toward a man from New York, of whom she tires after a month Thereafter, she alternately encourages and discourages Dexter, and when, eighteen months later, he realizes the futility of thinking that he could ever completely possess Judy, he becomes engaged to a girl named Irene Scheerer, who never appears as an actual character in the story In contrast to the passion and brilliance that Judy inspires in him, Dexter feels solid and content with the “sturdily popular” and “intensely great” Irene One night when Irene has a headache, which precludes her going out with him, Dexter passes the time by watching the dancers at the University Club and is startled by the sound of Judy’s voice behind him Back from Florida, Hot Springs, and a broken engagement, she seems eager to tantalize Dexter again and asks if he has a car As they drive around the city, Judy teases him with “Oh, Dexter, have you forgotten last year?” and “I wish you’d marry me.” Dexter is confused about whether the remarks are sincere or artificial, but when, for the first time, she begins to cry in his presence, lamenting that she is beautiful but not happy, Dexter is passionately drawn to her once again, despite his better judgment When Judy invites him to come inside her house, Dexter accepts The fifth episode takes place ten years later Dexter reminisces about how the passion rekindled from that one night lasted only a month, yet he feels that the deep happiness was worth the deep pain He knows now that he will never really own Judy, but that he will always love her At the outbreak of the war, having broken off his engagement with Irene and intending to settle in New York, Dexter instead turns over the management of his laundries to his partner and enlists in an officer’s training program The final episode occurs seven years after the war Dexter is now a very successful businessperson in New York City Devlin, a business acquaintance from Detroit, makes small talk by remarking that one of his best friends in Detroit, at whose wedding Devlin ushered, was married to a woman from Dexter’s hometown At the mention of Judy’s name, Dexter pumps Devlin for more information and learns that Judy’s life has become an unfortunate one indeed— her husband drinks and runs around with other women while she stays at home with the children Worst of all, though, is the fact that she has lost her beauty When Devlin leaves, Dexter weeps, not so much for the fact that Judy’s physical beauty has faded, but that something spiritual within him has been lost: his illusion, his youth, his winter dream "Winter Dreams" and Gatsby Writing “Winter Dreams” in 1922, Fitzgerald created characters and developed conflicts and themes that made their way into The Great Gatsby where they are more fully realized and artistically rendered Dexter Green is not Jimmy Gatz or Jay Gatsby and Judy Jones is not Daisy Fay Buchanan, but the parallels between the story’s characters and those of the novel are numerous; moreover, it is in the similarities that the heart of The Great Gatsby is found Dexter’s pursuit of his dreams and his romantic idealizing of a shallow, selfish young woman clearly foreshadow Gatsby’s The destruction of Dexter’s romantic illusions and the death of his dream are forerunners to the major themes in the novel The basic details of Jimmy Gatz’s personal history originate in Dexter Green’s Dexter is born into circumstances he longs to escape As a boy, he is restless, ambitious, and subject to romantic fantasies; he wants “glittering things” and “[reaches] out for the best ….” He creates a new life and a new image for himself, builds a fortune, and lies about where he had grown up Much of Dexter’s relationship with Judy Jones and Judy herself are reflected in Jay Gatsby’s love affair with Daisy Fay in Louisville before they are separated by World War I The daughters of wealthy men who own large, impressive homes, Judy and Daisy are both beautiful, charming, and irresistible to the many young men who vie for their attention Dexter’s obsessive love for Judy prefigures Gatsby’s obsession with reliving the past with Daisy Like Dexter, who idealizes Judy and lives with the illusion that she is worth having, Gatsby idealizes Daisy and finds it impossible to confront the reality of who and what she is Years after falling in love, both Dexter and Gatsby are nourished by their romantic memories and think of Judy and Daisy, respectively, as they once had been In the conclusion of “Winter Dreams,” Dexter’s cherished perception of Judy is destroyed, and he suffers the loss of an essential part of himself—the ability to live through his memories in “the country of illusion, of youth, of the richness of life, where his winter dreams had flourished.” Dexter’s pain as he realizes what “had been taken from him” is the pain Gatsby desperately attempts to escape by denying reality and dedicating himself to his dream of Daisy and all that it embodies Whether Gatsby is still living in the “country of illusion” as he waits for Daisy’s phone call in the novel's conclusion or his dream dies before he does is subject to conjecture In this respect, the romanticism of Dexter Green is intensified in Gatsby, and Dexter’s sadness is elevated to tragedy with Gatsby’s murder Winter Dreams Themes Themes and Meanings (Comprehensive Guide to Short Stories, Critical Edition) In being heralded as the “laureate of the Jazz Age,” Fitzgerald struck in his very American writing a balance between romance and disaster, glitter and delusion His characters include the petted and popular and rich, who both dream and live recklessly and who have as their biggest enemy time, the time that ages and changes The aging process is signified by the word “winter” in the title, but “winter” also signifies a transition that is more tragic than physical deterioration; by the end of the story, Dexter’s emotions have become frozen He has lost the ability to care or to feel His “dream” of Judy had kept him energetic, passionate, and alive, and now the dream has been taken from him The reader cares about Dexter at the beginning of the story and wants him to succeed in career and in love One myth associated with the American Dream is that even the poor, by spunk and luck, have a chance of making it big, and Dexter, whose mother “talked broken English to the end of her days,” has worked hard to raise himself out of the poor immigrant class to which he was born However, the dream of material success finally proves unsatisfying to Dexter, who comes to know that money cannot buy his real dream In contrast, Judy was born into wealth and takes it as much for granted as she does her good looks Judy, the spoiled little rich girl, gets what she deserves She has been a merciless flirt, using her attraction to break hearts for sport When the story reveals that she has become careworn and commonplace, married to a bully who deceives her, it is obvious that the tragedy is not hers but Dexter’s, who most wanted not riches, but a woman he could never have What is the most tragic of all, the woman was not worth having The Pain of Aging The world shown in "Winter Dreams" places a primacy on being young Dexter is at the pitch of prosperity as a young man Judy Jones controls the gaze of other people as a young woman Even when Dexter is poor, it is the firm determination of his youth that enables him to better himself The characters in Fitzgerald's creation place a great value on being young, and youth is synonymous with opportunity, emotional commitment, and a sense of limitless boundaries Aging is shown to be something entirely different Fitzgerald illuminates the social expectation and attitude towards becoming old As an older man, Dexter is accompanied only by the pain of his "winter dreams." For Dexter, being old means "that thing is gone." Judy suffers the most as she gets old Judy is forced to marry Lud Simms and live a life of "quiet desperation" as a housewife It does not escape Fitzgerald's perception that women are shown to battle more elements as they get older than men Dexter becomes older and must deal with emotional loss Judy becomes old and finds that her beauty and charms have evaporated with age, and accompanying her at this stage is desperation and disrespect The world in "Winter Dreams" is one in which the trappings of a world predicated upon external success does not look kindly upon becoming old Winter Dreams Analysis Style and Technique (Comprehensive Guide to Short Stories, Critical Edition) Fitzgerald’s direct narrative style is as clear and straightforward as Dexter’s romantic purpose The flashbacks and gaps in the story mirror Dexter’s on-again, off-again affair with Judy, though his unswerving obsession with her and the chronicle of it is emphasized here Fitzgerald’s tale uses poetic language and diction, yet it does not imply more than it states, and, in the story’s episodic structure of fits and starts, it is loose enough to accommodate some things that are almost irrelevant Dexter’s business success, for example, is fortuitous; the real attraction and attention of the protagonist and the reader is his private life The third-person limited omniscient point of view allows the reader to know Dexter’s story exclusively through Dexter’s thoughts and reactions to what is happening It is necessary to remember that Dexter is a romantic idealist and that his temperament is responsible for both his idealization of Judy and his subsequent disillusionment Dexter’s enchantment with Judy and the vitality he draws from her are symbolized by the color and sparkle Fitzgerald uses to present her and to create a context in which Dexter can contemplate her When he first sees her as a young woman, Dexter notices the blue gingham edged with white that shows off Judy’s tan; then, later in the afternoon, the sun is sinking “with a riotous swirl of gold and varying blues and scarlets” and Dexter swims among waters of “silver molasses.” The author establishes the painting motif when Dexter stretches out on the “wet canvas” of the springboard, which suggests that Judy’s seeming art of beauty and charm is all really superficial artifice With Judy’s blue silk dress at their first dinner and her golden gown and slippers at their last dance, Dexter swoons “under the magic of her physical splendor.” During his engagement to Irene, Dexter wonders why the fire and loveliness and ecstasy have disappeared The very direction of his life, which he let Judy dictate by her casual whim, is gone as well, until she appears to play his heartstrings once more Irene quickly fades from Dexter’s romantic imagination because there is nothing “sufficiently pictorial” about her or her grief to endure after he breaks up with her Judy is the picture of passion and beauty, energy and loveliness, the true love and true dream that are with him until, learning of Judy’s decline, he recognizes it as a signal of the demise of his own dreams Winter Dreams Characters Characters Devlin Devlin is a business associate of Dexter's He tells Dexter that Judy's beauty has faded and she has become a passive housewife to an alcoholic and abusive husband Dexter Green The story follows its main character, Dexter Green, over several years of his life Fourteen at the beginning of the story, he is confident and full of ‘‘winter dreams’’ of a golden future He feels superior to the other caddies, who are ‘‘poor as sin,’’ since he works only for pocket-money He continually daydreams in ‘‘the fairways of his imagination’’ about gloriously besting the men for whom he caddies or dazzling them with fancy diving exhibitions The enterprising and resourceful young Dexter performs his duties expertly and so becomes the caddy most in demand at the club As Mr Jones notes, he never loses a ball, and he is a hard worker Yet his desire to become a part of the glittering world of wealth he has only glimpsed compels him to abruptly quit his job when Judy Jones makes him feel that he is her inferior The narrator explains, ‘‘as so frequently would be the case in the future, Dexter was unconsciously dictated to by his winter dreams.’’ Dexter's ambition prompts him to attend a prestigious university in the East, and then upon graduation, to work hard to master the cleaning trade and so become a successful businessman He works diligently to improve his manners and dress so that he can become a part of the world he so admires Besides adopting the mannerisms of those who attend a top university, he finds the best tailors to dress him Many who meet him, impressed with his success, like to say: ‘‘Now there's a boy.’’ The narrator makes it clear, however, that Dexter is not a snob; he does not want ‘‘association with glittering things and glittering people, he wanted the glittering things themselves.’’ Yet Dexter does not appear to covet glittering things for their monetary value He instead seems to need them to fulfill his vision of a perfect life, which includes gaining the love of Judy Jones He does not always, however, wear his success easily When he returns to his hometown and is invited out by the men for whom he used to caddy, he tries to close the gap between the present and the Analyze the positive and negative sides of Dexter’s qualities in the story “winter dreams” of F.Scott.Fitzgerald Posted on 14.04.2014by xulingyi2012 In the early 20th century, American prosperous society created a genre of youth who were full of ambitions to search for the glory and position, to rise above their poverty and to enter the wealthy upper- classes but had an erroneous awareness of true love and happiness That all made a big fancy dream of success in both love and wealth – so-called American dreams of the youth F.Scott Fitzgerald, an American contemporary writer at that time declared his attitude and his point of view of the social background in his story “Winter dreams”, especially through the story’s main character, Dexter Green The author characterized Dexter as a young guy who is ambitious in his career, desirous but pragmatic and inconsistent in his love By characterizing Dexter as a symbol of typical young successors in America, the writer showed us the good sides and the bad sides of his qualities through his story of pursuing the illusion of happiness in love and glory First of all, Dexter is an ambitious person The good side of this quality is that it helped him reach a “golden future” with extraordinary success, wealth, and stable social position in his “winter dreams” To be detailed, at fourteen Dexter was described as the best caddy worker in the club, making thirty dollars a month, which for the summer was not able to be me made anywhere else on the lake He was also a smart boy, who knew how to barter, asking Mr Jones for a raise making it “worth his while” since he was the best caddy This shows that Dexter is not the type that will just settle He is really a very determined ambitious character Moreover, he quit his job to attend a famous university in the East although he didn’t have much money After college, “Dexter borrowed a thousand dollars on his college degree” and with his confident mouth, he bought a small laundry In addition, the way he worked to reach his “winter dreams” is: “He made a specialty of learning how the English washed fine golf-stocking without shrinking them, and within a year he was catering to the trade that wore knickerbockers” It leads to “Before he was twentyseven he owned the largest string of laundries in his section of the country” Dexter became successful in the business world He moved his way up the economic ladder with all of his laundries being flourishing Next, Dexter is generally a desirous and pragmatic in love person, which leads him to a blind love To be detailed, he just cared about Judy Jones because of her appearance, her wealthy family background He loved Judy Jones because this girl was so beautiful It can be seen clearly by the way author describes repeatedly the appearance of this girl The first time Dexter met her at the golf course, he looked at her carefully “her lips twisted down at the corners when she smiled”, “the almost passionate quality of her eyes” Then, when they met together second time “the color in her cheeks was centered like the color in the picture” And the way he looked at admire herself “she wore a blue gingham dress, rimmed at throat and shoulders with a white edging that accentuated her tan” Another aspect, he tried to pursue Judy Jones because of her wealth “He confessed devotion to Judy Johns had rather solidified his position” It shows that he wanted Judy Johns because this woman was rich, full of energy and powerful It causes that Dexter fell in love with this woman as a blind person He did not care the angry way she treated to her nurse although she was so young – just a 11-year-old little girl He also was not confused when she asked if him was rich enough for her to decide to love him Also, he did not consider the ways she denied to answer directly when he gave the proposal to her As a result, when loving this woman, he almost wasted his youth Looking back his love at the age of 32, he found that he had a life with no meaningful relationship and cried for himself Last but not least, another negative side of Dexter’s quality is that he himself created obstacles to his own happiness Another Dexter’s quality was inconsistent, so he did not stand his ground for his own love First, he did not trust Judy, but he still loved her Many times, he knew that she insulted him and lied him.“She took him in her roadster to a picnic supper, and after supper she disappeared, likewise in her roadster, with another man” “When she assured him that she had not kissed the other man, he knew she was lying” However, after that nothing changed his love for her and “for the first time, he had asked her to marry him” Second, he recognized that he could not possess her, but he still loved her above all, and canceled the engagement to Irene Scherer He recognized that Judy could not be a good wife “He told himself the trouble and the pain she had caused him, he enumerated her glaring deficiencies as a wife Then he said to himself that he loved her” Just one time, when returning to the University Club and meeting Judy, Dexter could not prevent his emotion “A million phrases of anger, pride, passion, hatred, tenderness fought on his lips” And then he broke up with Irene Scherer Judy fascinated him by her looks, her words, and her charm To him “she had brought him ecstatic happiness and intolerable agony of spirit” Once she lost her beauty and allure, he lost his dreams and got full of emptiness Dexter was not consistent with his love, so he could not be happy with wealthy life To sum up, through the positive sides and the negative sides of Dexter’s qualities, we can find that his path of conquering the perfectness of love and wealth have never led to a true happiness but ended by a symbolism of “winter dreams” with hopelessness, loneliness, or even an emptiness in human soul This story was valued not only in American society in the early 20th century but also in the present time It rises a much thoughtful question for the young people nowadays: Are achievements of happiness through material means such as successful career, high social position, richness of family background and beauty of appearance considered true endless dreams of happiness or just “winter dreams of Dexter” which people always pursue to the end of their life? Group members: Châu Thị Ánh Hạnh Võ Đông Hầu Tôn Nữ Trúc Hương Trần Quốc Lâm Themes The Dark Side of the American Dream The “winter dreams” of the story refer to the American Dream that Dexter comes to embody, but success brings a high cost, and social mobility restricts Dexter’s capacity for happiness Dexter is from humble origins: his mother was an immigrant who constantly struggled with the language of her adopted homeland The central irony of the story is that realizing the American Dream yields bleak rewards For example, when Dexter was a young caddy, he dreamed about success and wealth and the happiness they would bring When he finally beats T A Hedrick in a golf tournament, however, the triumph brings him little joy Dexter is able to transcend middle-class inertia but, despite his tireless efforts to advance his fortunes, forced to accept that money cannot buy happiness Dexter has an ambiguous relationship with the bluebloods and idle rich who populate his social world On one hand, he is proud of his self-made status and has no respect for the men for whom luxury and wealth were a given Still, the men are emblems of a world to which Dexter wants to belong In pursuing Judy, he is attempting to validate his claim as a bonafide member of the upper class Dexter feels that he is a newer, stronger, and more praiseworthy version of the Mortimer Joneses of the world, but he still mimics the rich in gesture and appearance He pays meticulous attention to his appearance, concerned with small details that only an outsider who was trying to disguise himself as a man of wealth would really notice Dexter’s position in this world is precarious, and there is no room for error in appearance or etiquette Through Dexter and the world of earned distinctions that he comes to represent, Fitzgerald exposes the hollowness that comes from the aggressive pursuit of the American Dream Wealth and social status substitute for strong connections to people, eclipsing the possibility of happiness of emotional fulfillment Reality versus Idealism Reality and fantasy prove to be constantly at odds with each other as Dexter and Judy search for stability and meaning in “Winter Dreams.” Dexter is the victim of his so-called winter dreams, adolescent fantasies that he is never able to fulfill As he searches for happiness and love, he unwisely focuses his quest exclusively on Judy Jones, making her the sole object of his romantic projections However, rather than provide fulfillment for Dexter, Judy and her displays of affection simply trigger more yearning Dexter never sees Judy for who she really is; rather, he sees her as an ideal of womanhood and the embodiment of perfect love Later, Judy reveals her self-serving nature when she confesses that she is breaking off relations with a man who has pursued her simply because he is not of adequate financial means Dexter, still blinded by his idealistic view of Judy, cannot digest this information, because it suggests the reality of who Judy is Although Dexter recognizes the real threat of harm beneath Judy’s charm and beauty and tries to convince himself that he is no longer in love with her, he cannot fully divorce himself from the romantic, uncontrollable attachment he has to her Ultimately, Dexter becomes the victim not of Judy’s fickle behavior but of his own stubborn ideals Time and again, Dexter and Judy struggle with contradictions between reality and fantasy On their first date, Dexter is disappointed that Judy appears in an average dress and, instead of the pomp and ritual he expected, blandly tells the maid that they are ready to eat In their ambiguous and protracted courtship, Judy treats him with “interest encouragement malice indifference [and] contempt.” The reality of this relationship is bleak, but the idealistic vision of what it could be enables it to limp along Motifs Similes Fitzgerald uses similes throughout “Winter Dreams,” most notably at the beginning of the story, to make abstract notions, such as the frustrations of love and drive to succeed, more concrete The similes also suggest the gulf that separates reality from the illusions the characters are subject to In the first sentence of the story, we learn that, unlike Dexter, some of the caddies at the country club are “poor as sin.” As winter settles on Minnesota, snow covers the golf course “like the white lid of a box,” and the wind blows “cold as misery.” These similes, grimly preoccupied with gloomy notions of misery and poverty, set the tone for the unhappy tale that Fitzgerald is about to convey Similes help clarify the abstract idea of Dexter’s winter dreams His visions of grandeur involve vague, half-formed hopes for success and wealth and the satisfaction he assumes will accompany them Dexter is able to translate his dreams into reality He becomes the self-professed richest young man in his part of the country and gets to face off in a round of golf with Mr Hedrick, whom he easily beats However, he is still dogged by the abstract—his struggle to find love and accept the responsibility of belonging to someone else During his first fateful meeting with the adult Judy, his heart “turned over like the fly-wheel on the boat.” Fitzgerald’s use of simile helps provide a link between abstract and actual realms, reality and illusion, and love and its inevitable disappointments Winter The title, “Winter Dreams,” refers to the powerful desire for status and affluence and, with its suggestion of snowy barrenness, sets the tone for the story that unfolds Dexter forms his greatest aspirations for his life during a season of death and dormancy, an irony that suggests that those aspirations will not be as life-affirming as Dexter imagines Seasons in general highlight the unstoppable passage of time in the story As Dexter gets older but no wiser, each year finds him further from the happiness he seeks He is in many ways a misfit, his surroundings and ambitions out of synch with his humble origins Fitzgerald highlights Dexter’s unresolved, outsider status early in the story, when Dexter skis across the frozen, snowed-in golf course, using the space for something other than what it was intended These solitary, wintry outings signal the loneliness that he will never vanquish The fact that his dreams are born in a lifeless, stagnant season foreshadows the unhappiness and thwarted desires that await him in adulthood Symbols The Boat In the elite world of the Sherry Island Golf Club, the boat emerges not only as a symbol of luxury but also as a powerful reminder of the emptiness a life of indulgence can lead to The boat makes a memorable entrance, with Judy at the helm, as Dexter enjoys a solitary moment on the raft anchored in the middle of the lake next to the country club Lost in a reverie, Dexter is filled with the bliss of arrival, having finally reached the success he had long anticipated Entertaining only the most auspicious of prospects when he looks to the future, Dexter feels at that moment a satisfaction that he may never again experience as intensely Abruptly interrupting Dexter’s musings, the whirr of the motor overpowers Dexter’s thoughts about the rosy life ahead Judy speeds across the lake in the boat, foreshadowing the profound ways that Dexter’s ensuing passion for Judy will impact his future happiness For Judy, flying behind the boat on a surfboard, the boat is an escape from reality Her admirers learn quickly that she is too fast to catch and lives solely for her own pleasure Dexter obeys when she tells him to drive the boat for her, the first of an ensuing string of commands he will obey As an object of affluence, it shows how truly divorced from reality Judy is She tells Dexter that she is running from a man she had been dating who has begun to idealize her The boat is her way of escaping the ways in which men try to make her fit their own dreams and reflect their idealized visions of the perfect woman Judy hides in the boat again later, when she grows tired of the man from New York who is rumored to be her fiancé The boat becomes Judy’s haven from the oppressive affections of men who are captivated by her, an expensive toy that whisks her away from commitment or the need to accept responsibility for her actions Golf Balls Golf balls, part of the pristine world of the country club, suggest the harm that an idle life can lead to as well as the stringent requirements one must meet to belong to the upper class Dexter, with his self-made wealth, tries desperately to blend in with this affluent world The imagery of the golf balls emerges twice, both times reflecting the upper-class ease that the game itself embodies First, before the spring thaw in the north country, golfers use black and red balls, which stand out better in the patches of snow that linger on the course This reference comes early in the story, when Dexter is a young caddy, excluded from Judy Jones and her set because he is a middle-class boy of limited means When Dexter finally gets a toehold in her world, he sacrifices his individuality for the identical white balls he uses at the club where he once caddied During Dexter’s once anticipated but ultimately disappointing golf outing with T A Hedrick, golf balls, in the hands of Judy Jones, become an emblem of aggression Judy’s ball hits Mr Hedrick in the stomach, and her obliviousness, whether feigned or genuine, serves only to further characterize her as a self-centered brat Although there is little threat of real physical violence in this genteel, upper-class world, the incident suggests that aggression lurks just beneath the surface Although Judy embodies the light, almost hedonist spirit that would eventually characterize the age, Fitzgerald reminds us in this episode that beneath the fun and leisure, real harm can be done Judy’s errant ball foreshadows the more potent emotional damage she imparts in trifling with Dexter’s and her other admirers’ affections In A Nutshell In an essay looking back on his literary career, author Francis Scott Fitzgerald reflected that he made $800 on his writing in 1919 and $18,000 on his writing in 1920 (Source.) We have no idea what it would be like to see our salary increase by two thousand percent in one year, but we imagine it would be pretty awesome Fitzgerald enjoyed amazing early success as a writer, and "Winter Dreams" is part of this burst of creative and economic achievement In fact, it helped launch his career as one of American literature's most well-known novelists After "Winter Dreams" first appeared in Metropolitan magazine in September of 1922, Fitzgerald reworked both the overall plot of the story and some of its passages into his most famous novel, The Great Gatsby(1925) Yeah, that's right: this little ol' story became one of the most important books in the history of American literature Fitzgerald even called "Winter Dreams" "[a] sort of 1st draft of the Gatsby idea." (Source, xxv.) He also went on to revise "Winter Dreams" a second time for publication in his 1926 short story collection, All the Sad Young Men Clearly, Fitzgerald couldn't shake the themes and issues he was tackling in this story, and what he explores in "Winter Dreams" came to define his writing in later years Like The Great Gatsby, "Winter Dreams" sketches a disillusioned view of the American search for wealth and its horrible effect on relationships But what exactly is that view, and what makes the American search for wealth so terrible? Fitzgerald often sets his stories among the glitz and glam of the American upper classes, and "Winter Dreams" is no exception We've got golfing, swanky dinner parties, boating expeditions, fancy cars, and even fancier clothes It all sounds good to us But Fitzgerald paints a bleaker picture What's underneath all the glitter and gold? Not much, if you're asking our friend F Scott "Winter Dreams," The Great Gatsby, and many of his other works aim to show us that material wealth, at the end of the day, isn't all its cracked up to be Yeah yeah yeah, we know that money can't buy happiness So what new idea does Fitzgerald have to add to that age-old adage? Lots, as it turns out, but you'll have to read the story to find out for yourself Trust us, Fitzgerald really knows his stuff One last bit of coolness: at least some of the material for "Winter Dreams" comes from Fitzgerald's own experiences living at the White Bear Yacht Club in St Paul, Minnesota Fitzgerald grew up in Minnesota, so when he talks about the wind blowing "cold as misery" (1.2), he speaks from first-hand experience Plus, as you'll read in our "Characters" section, Fitzgerald had a lot in common with the story's protagonist, Dexter Green So maybe there's an explanation for Fitzgerald's obsession with the themes of "Winter Dreams." Could he have had some "Winter Dreams" of his own? WHY SHOULD I CARE? Growing up is tough stuff, and F Scott Fitzgerald doesn't try to sugarcoat that one bit This isn't a fairy tale or an ifyou-dream-it-you-can-do-it kind of a story The title is "Winter Dreams," but it might as well be "Where Winter Dreams Go to Die." There are plenty of coming-of-age stories out there, but "Winter Dreams" is unique because the ending is one of (spoiler alert) total disappointment As a kid, Dexter has big plans for himself He wants to go somewhere in his life Nothing can stop him But once he gets to where he's going, he's lost all over again He no longer has the dreams of his youth, and he's left with the painful reality that maybe all his hard work wasn't worth it At the end of the story, the world is no longer full of infinite possibility Instead, it's full of cold hard truths Okay, wait a minute: "life stinks" is not the takeaway here More like "life stinks if you live it this way." Dexter learned the hard way that your grand plans aren't always what you think they'll be We Shmoopers, on the other hand, get to learn the easy way, by reading Dexter's story This doesn't mean we shouldn't dream big, it just means we have have to remember that nothing's perfect And that's what makes life so exciting How It All Goes Down Dexter Green is a fourteen-year-old caddy at the Sherry Island Golf Club in Black Bear, Minnesota His father owns the second best grocery store in town, so Dexter is solidly middle-class—comfy, but by no means rich One day, when he is caddying at the golf course, he meets the lovely(ish) Judy Jones At the sight of Judy, he decides to quit his caddying job He resolves to follow his "winter dreams" to become the kind of man who would fit into Judy Jones' wealthy world Years later, after college, Dexter invests in a laundry business in the city nearest to Black Bear It's not the sexiest job in the world, but he makes a boatload of money and starts hanging out with the wealthy families of Sherry Island He meets Judy Jones a second time, when she accidentally hits one of Dexter's golf companions in the chest with a golf ball (ouch) Later that evening, Dexter bumps into Judy on a raft in the middle of Black Bear Lake She asks him to join her for dinner, and Dexter eagerly accepts At dinner, Judy confesses that she is a bit blue because a man she really liked turns out to be poor The horror! When Dexter assures Judy that he is well-off, she leans over to kiss him Dexter realizes that he has wanted Judy Jones every since he was a teenager At this point, Dex is head-over-heels in love with Judy Even though he knows that she has other lovers, he puts up with it But after a year and a half, Dexter finally gets it: Judy doesn't actually care about him At all She will never return his feelings So he gets engaged to Irene Scheerer, a nice (but slightly less attractive) girl with a friendly, welcoming family But not so fast: when Judy turns up again asking Dexter to marry her (not cool, Judy), Dexter practically trips over Irene to begin, once again, his affair with Judy Jones Judy and Dexter's rekindled romance only lasts for a month He moves east to New York the following year, and when the Americans join World War I, Dexter signs up for the Army He is glad to have a distraction from his pathetic personal life The poor guy actually prefers trench warfare to "webs of tangled emotion." (5.4) Flash forward seven years from Dexter's failed engagement to Judy Dexter is thirty-two He hears from one of his business associates that Judy Jones has become Judy Simms Mr Simms apparently drinks too much and cheats on her Oh, and one other thing: she's not the cutie patootie she once was Dexter is horrified to hear that Judy's beauty has faded He understands that his "winter dream" has gone forever: he is no longer the idealistic young man who loved Judy Jones WINTER DREAMS SECTION SUMMARY • BACK • NEXT • • • Dexter Green is a fourteen-year-old caddy at the Sherry Island Golf Club in Black Bear, Minnesota • • One day, Dexter announces that he is going to quit working as a caddy at the Golf Club • • • Dexter refuses: he has decided he is too old to caddy • Judy calls out to Dexter and asks him where the golf teacher and the caddy-master are It turns out they're not around, and Dexter has been left to look after the caddy-house • The nurse steps in to ask if they could have a caddy, since Judy's father wants Judy to learn golf But Dexter can't leave the caddy-house, since there's no one else in charge His father owns the second best grocery store in town, so Dexter is pretty well off But even though Dexter's family has some money, he still dreams of taking his place among the rich members of the Golf Club One of the members, Mr Mortimer Jones, begs him with tears in his eyes to stay on, since he is "best caddy in the club" (1.5) Wow, these guys are really attached to their caddies In the end, Dexter quits because of eleven-year-old Judy Jones She's that pretty He sees Judy standing at the caddy house with her nurse, Hilda, and can tell that she is going to be beautiful in a few years Sometimes you just know • Judy and her nurse go off to talk and the little girl throws a fit and tries to hit her nurse with one of her golf clubs Note to self: don't get on her bad side • • • Finally, the caddy-master arrives and tells Dexter to caddy for Judy No way Instead, he quits his job on the spot Bold move, Dex! Dexter is not entirely sure why he has made this decision to quit his job., but it has something to with his "winter dreams" (1.46) WINTER DREAMS SECTION SUMMARY • BACK • NEXT • • Following that whole fiasco, Dexter works to improve his social and economic standing • • • Before he is even twenty-seven, he owns the largest string of laundries in the Midwest • • He plays golf with three wealthy guys, two of whom he used to caddy for Ah, how the tables have turned • • The golf ball belongs to none other than Judy Jones Golf paraphernalia is clearly her weapon of choice • After sunset, Dexter goes swimming in Black Bear Lake He reaches the furthest raft out on the lake, and as he's lying there, a motorboat suddenly approaches him • • • It's Judy Jones • Dexter drives Judy's boat so that she can surf behind him, and on a whim, Judy invites Dexter to dinner the next evening After college, he goes to the big city near Black Bear Lake and invests in a laundry business He specializes in high-quality laundry services for wealthy customers (Good way to get in with them.) Eventually, he'll sell the chain of stores and move to New York Before this move east, when Dexter is twenty-three, an older rich man named Mr Hart gives Dexter a guest pass to the Sherry Island Golf Club Yep, same place he used to work As they are playing, one of them – Mr T.A Hedrick – takes a golf ball to the stomach Ouch (Although that sounds better than a golf club to the chest, which is what Hilda almost got.) She doesn't seem particularly sorry to have hit an old man in the stomach She continues to play as the other golfers – Mr Hedrick, Mr Sandwood, and Mr Hart – all comment on her splendid physical appearance She asks Dexter to drive the motorboat so that she can ride on a surfboard behind it Judy wants to avoid the man waiting for her in her house on Sherry Island, who has just told her she is his ideal She can't take a compliment, apparently (Just kidding, that's actually kind of creepy.) WINTER DREAMS SECTION SUMMARY • • BACK • NEXT Dexter stands waiting for Judy to come downstairs to dinner When she arrives, she behaves and is dressed pretty informally, which disappoints Dexter, who had his hopes up for some glamor • • • • Her mother and father aren't home (scandalous!) • • • • She wants to know all about Dexter right off the bat They chat about Dexter's college days and his business, but after dinner, Judy gets really moody She's bummed because a man that she really liked turns out to be poor It wouldn't be so bad if he had told her straight away, but she had an image in her head that he wasn't poor So it came as a shock, she says Dexter assures her, "I'm probably making more money than any man my age in the Northwest" (3.18) She leans over to kiss him, smiling (We ain't sayin' she's a gold digger ) Dexter realizes that he has wanted Judy Jones since he was a boy WINTER DREAMS SECTION SUMMARY • BACK • NEXT • • • Dexter falls for Judy, hard • • • • • At the end of the summer, rumor has it that Judy has gotten engaged to a visiting New Yorker • (It has taken Dexter six seasons [not like TV seasons, actual seasons] to realize that, at heart, Judy couldn't care less about him.) • When he sees Judy at a dance, he doesn't pay any attention to her Naturally, she doesn't notice; she's busy with a new man • Dexter sits with Irene Scheerer instead, and three months later, Dexter and Irene get engaged (Things happened quickly back then.) • After a long winter of making it clear to people that he is with Irene now, May finally arrives Dexter is twentyfive • • One night, he arrives at Irene's house one day to pick her up for an evening out • • • • • • He hears a familiar voice: it is Judy Jones She wants to talk to Dexter He knows that he's not her main squeeze, but he's game to put up with the other guys in her life Dexter feels ecstasy in Judy's presence, but he also feels restless and unhappy knowing that he can't satisfy her Dexter is heart-broken, but after a month, Judy gets bored with her New York man and she returns to Dexter Our main man turns twenty-four (gettin' old) and starts thinking about moving east to New York He wants to take Judy with him Spoiler alert: it doesn't happen Eighteen months after first meeting Judy, Dexter gets engaged to a woman named Irene Scheerer Her mother, Mrs Scheerer, tells him that Irene is in bed with a headache, so he goes back to the University Club, where he's been living They go for a drive This can't be good… Judy seems melancholy Uh-oh… She asks Dexter to marry her Oh geez She knows he's met Irene, but she can't believe that Dexter would leave Judy for another woman Judy begins to cry She really knows how to work people! • The two of them arrive at the Jones family mansion, and Judy wants to know how she can be so unhappy when she is "more beautiful than anybody else" (4.61) Ego much? • Dexter suddenly feels filled with tenderness and emotion, and when Judy asks him to come inside, he says yes Surprise surprise WINTER DREAMS SECTION SUMMARY • BACK • NEXT • • The romance with Judy fizzles after one month What a shock • Dexter realizes two things: he will always love Judy Jones, and he will never have her Not a great situation to be in • • • Even though Dexter sees that Judy is a manipulative liar, he still doesn't blame her • • Dexter hands over his laundry management to his business partner and joins the Army It takes Dexter some time before he feels bad about the affair, even though he really hurt Irene and her parents Our main man goes east in February of the next year after this disastrous month with Judy It must be 1917, because America joins the First World War (for more on the war, check out Shmoop's learning guide) Actually, he feels some relief to be escaping the emotion of his life WINTER DREAMS SECTION SUMMARY • Fast forward seven years after Dexter's failed relationship with Judy He is thirty-two years old, and he's living the good (i.e rich) life in New York • A guy named Devlin comes to his office to talk business This guy mentions that the wife of one of his best friends in Detroit is also from Dexter's home town: maybe Dexter knows her? • • Her name is Judy Simms; she was once Judy Jones (!) • • Actually, Devlin thinks Judy is a bit old for Lud Simms, but Dexter protests that she is only twenty-seven • • • Devlin realizes that Dexter must know her rather well • • • Devlin leaves and Dexter lies down in his office lounge Devlin says that he feels a bit sorry for her because her husband, Lud Simms, is a drinker who cheats on her She doesn't cheat on him, though; she stays at home with the kids (Hmm, that's weird We think Dexter's math is off When he first sees Judy, he is fourteen and she is eleven If he is now thirty-two, shouldn't she be twenty-nine?) Even though Lud treats her badly, Judy is going to stay with him Dexter cannot understand what Devlin is telling him: that Judy's beauty has faded and that she has settled down It's all too much to process He feels that he has lost his winter dream, and he weeps for what he can never have But it's not just his dream he's lost: he has also lost that spark he once had He doesn't even care too much about Judy anymore • That romantic boy he used to be is gone forever WINTER DREAMS THEME OF SOCIETY AND CLASS • BACK • NEXT In our U.S History Shmoop learning guide on the 1920s, we talk about the huge rise in consumer culture at this stage of the twentieth century Well, "Winter Dreams" was published in 1922, right at the start of the Roaring Twenties Fitzgerald is clearly responding to the sudden, visible signs that lots of Americans are getting very rich, very quickly Dexter Green's ease with making money demonstrates both the positives (yay! cash!) and the negatives (boo! bad human relationships and loss of romance!) of this sudden rise in American wealth The obvious and visible class differences between the very rich and the middle class are what drive Dexter to succeed at any cost, even if it means losing the romantic idealism of his boyhood Dexter strongly associates money with love in "Winter Dreams." He thinks that if he has money, he can win the love of Judy Jones One tiny problem: he doesn't get that having money might somehow replace love in his emotional life So when he dedicates himself to earning money, his ability to love dies away without him even knowing it He is left instead with "the gray beauty of steel that withstands all time" (6.35) Not even the loss of Judy can get to him The great irony of Dexter's life is that, as a boy, he links money and love together But in Fitzgerald's world, money and love are actually mutually exclusive No one who has a real talent for making money can hang on to their romantic ideals Questions About Love How does Judy Jones think about her relationships with her lovers? How her worries about love differ from Dexter's? What are the emotions that Dexter expresses toward Judy Jones? How does Dexter appear to define love? How does Fitzgerald see the relationship between ambition and love? Can the two things coexist equally in the same person? Chew on This Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate By making Judy Jones a two-dimensional character, Fitzgerald emphasizes that Dexter's attraction to her is not personal, but just a symbol of his desire to achieve upper class status Dexter's character in "Winter Dreams" suggests that love and desire for money are incompatible For Fitzgerald, it appears that business success kills off human feeling WINTER DREAMS THEME OF MEMORY AND THE PAST • BACK • NEXT Memory and the past are everywhere in "Winter Dreams." Heck, the "Tone" of the story is wistful and nostalgic On the one hand, Dexter wants to forget his humble origins He wants to leave behind the memories of his immigrant mother and his grocer father, move to the East Coast, and make tons of money Dexter's social success depends on his willingness to ignore his lower class background so that he can attach himself completely to the upper class On the other hand, Dexter's eagerness to leave behind his social origins shows that he also has to sacrifice his own early memories To make lots of money, he also has to turn his back on the romantic idealism of his younger days Dexter appears perfectly fine with forgetting about his parents (Nice, Dex.) But he weeps when he finally understands that he has also cast aside "the country of illusion, of youth, of the richness of life" (6.36) that used to inspire him so much He has forgotten about the boy he used to be, which is the worst loss that Dexter can imagine Questions About Memory and the Past What details does Fitzgerald give us of the Green family history? Why these details matter to Dexter's characterization? There are points in "Winter Dreams" when Fitzgerald seems to be connecting Dexter's particular family history with a larger narrative of the American class system For example, Dexter (as an up-and-coming selfmade man) thinks of himself as "newer and stronger" (3.1) than the old money elites he meets at college How is Dexter's particular story also a more general tale of the American self-made man? When does grown-up Dexter appear to feel the greatest distance from the boy he once was in Black Bear, Minnesota? Are there other instances when he feels closer to his past? Why might Dexter's relationship to his past matter in a story about ambition for a better future? Chew on This Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate "Winter Dreams" uses Dexter Green's sense of distance from his own past to show off the general flexibility of the American class system (I.e Dexter can go from humble immigrant parents to a future in which his children can afford "carelessness" [3.2] in just three generations.) Dexter spends so much time in the past and the future that he forgets about the present moment He would have had a more fulfilling life if he'd remembered to live in the moment WINTER DREAMS THEME OF GENDER • BACK • NEXT Dexter is a man of action, a self-made man who can change his life by going to an elite college and investing cleverly in business But he can only those things because he is, specifically, a man Judy Jones has the same kind of restless, melancholy spirit that Dexter does But because she is a pretty lady, she becomes an object to be admired (by men like Dexter) Her great talent is her physical beauty, and it is through her body that she tries to find emotional fulfillment What is this, the 1920s? Oh Yeah, it is The other main female character in "Winter Dreams," Irene Scheerer, represents another possible, socially acceptable role for upper class women in the 1920s: wife and mother Irene is welcoming, friendly, and clearly destined to be great with her kids While in many ways, Judy and Irene seem like absolute opposites, they share the same essential trait Their characters are defined in relation to the story's central male figure, Dexter We have no sense of how Judy and Irene think as rounded characters The fact that they are women limits their ability to move through multiple social spaces the way that Dexter can Questions About Gender Judy's beauty is what draws Dexter to her so strongly Why is it impossible for Dexter to attach the same romantic ideals to less-attractive Irene Scheerer? Why might it be important that the female characters are represented in terms of physical beauty while the male characters are represented in terms of financial ability and ambition? How Judy and Irene Scheerer contrast with one another? What these contrasts suggest about the social roles available to women in the early twentieth century United States? How does Judy describe her own overall unhappiness? What kinds of assumptions does Judy make about what should make her happy? Chew on This Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate Judy is a total diva But her assumption that beauty means (or should mean) happiness is just the 1920s female equivalent to Dexter's belief that money means happiness Judy is looking for the same kind of emotional fulfillment from her many partners that Dexter seeks in his business investments Their two separate responses to the same feeling of loneliness and isolation is the result of gender difference WINTER DREAMS THEME OF AMBITION • BACK • NEXT Dexter is not ambitious just for the sake of making tons of money The narrator of "Winter Dreams" is careful to remind us that there is nothing "merely snobbish in the boy" (2.1) Dexter is an idealist: he associates cash with the graceful, attractive lives of the members of the Sherry Island Golf Club In fact, making money is almost secondary to his main ambition of leaving behind his humble origins and joining the upper class (Take, for example, his embarrassment: "His mother's name had been Krimslich She was a Bohemian of the peasant class and she had talked broken English to the end of her days Her son must keep to the set patterns" [3.2].) Dexter dreams of starting a new family, in which his children won't have to worry about being of the right class or stock Money is a way to make that better life possible, but it's not a goal in itself Questions About Ambition What distinguishes Dexter from the other men in "Winter Dreams" who are also seeking financial gain? How does Dexter's success structure the plot of "Winter Dreams"? Can we compare Dexter's desire for money to Judy's desire for sexual fulfillment? How are the two similar, and how they differ? We mentioned in our character analysis of Judy Jones that Dexter strongly identifies Judy with his more general financial ambitions At what point in "Winter Dreams" does Dexter's desire for money separate from his desire for Judy Jones? What is the cause of this eventual splitting of purpose? Chew on This Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate Dexter's effortless financial success allows Fitzgerald, as a writer, to downplay the difficulties of earning money That way, "Winter Dreams" can focus instead on the major emotional problems that accompany business ambition Dexter's ambition does him more harm than good After all, he ends up miserable and alone "Winter Dreams" just like The Great Gatsby is one of Fitzgerald's diatribes against the Old Money class in American society and its seeming false offer of equality to those who believe in the American Dream In the story, Dexter observes the wealthy golfers for whom he caddies and believes that if he works hard enough, he can one day be just like them He envisions scenes where he drives up in luxurious cars and the wealthy surround him simply to listen to him speak Dexter does work hard and becomes wealthy, but once he makes it to the top, he realizes that the dream has become corrupted (just like Daisy is the corrupted version of Gatsby's dream and can never live up to his expectations) Both of these works present Fitzgerald's frustration with his own life and attempts to achieve the American Dream He, like Dexter and Gatsby, became interested in a wealthy socialite (Zelda) and was looked down upon by her social class and family When he finally did win Zelda and marry her, he endured a tumultuous relationship with her where their wealth was unstable and their faithfulness to one another questionable He believed (as he demonstrates in "Winter Dream") that the Old Money portion of society corrupts the moral, decent Midwesterner Become a fan of scarletpimpernel (What's this?) like 1dislike Actions ▾ Ashley Kannan | Middle School Teacher | (Level 3) Distinguished Educator Posted on April 19, 2010 at 9:21 AM (Answer #3) The disillusionment featured in the short story revolves around Dexter's belief that happiness can be attained through gain and want, without some type of moral foundation that serves as a bedrock for all endeavor In many ways, Dexter's belief in happiness is illusory As a caddy, he is entranced with the trappings of wealth, and the allure that high society features When he golfs at the same course for which he used to caddy, he realizes that he is playing in a foursome with the same people for whom he used to be a caddy or a type of servant His "love" for Judy is one that is based on physicality and wealth Dexter is entranced with what Judy represents and the world of which she is a part In the end, when he is told of her sad life and the beauty that is now gone, Dexter weeps because it is the death of his illusions, with only reality left The disillusion present is one predicated upon firmament that lacks stability [...]... a symbol of his desire to achieve upper class status Dexter's character in "Winter Dreams" suggests that love and desire for money are incompatible For Fitzgerald, it appears that business success kills off human feeling WINTER DREAMS THEME OF MEMORY AND THE PAST • BACK • NEXT Memory and the past are everywhere in "Winter Dreams. " Heck, the "Tone" of the story is wistful and nostalgic On the one hand,... Judy No way Instead, he quits his job on the spot Bold move, Dex! Dexter is not entirely sure why he has made this decision to quit his job., but it has something to do with his "winter dreams" (1.46) WINTER DREAMS SECTION 2 SUMMARY • BACK • NEXT • • Following that whole fiasco, Dexter works to improve his social and economic standing • • • Before he is even twenty-seven, he owns the largest string of... [3.2].) Dexter dreams of starting a new family, in which his children won't have to worry about being of the right class or stock Money is a way to make that better life possible, but it's not a goal in itself Questions About Ambition 1 What distinguishes Dexter from the other men in "Winter Dreams" who are also seeking financial gain? How does Dexter's success structure the plot of "Winter Dreams" ? 2... business investments Their two separate responses to the same feeling of loneliness and isolation is the result of gender difference WINTER DREAMS THEME OF AMBITION • BACK • NEXT Dexter is not ambitious just for the sake of making tons of money The narrator of "Winter Dreams" is careful to remind us that there is nothing "merely snobbish in the boy" (2.1) Dexter is an idealist: he associates cash with... one other thing: she's not the cutie patootie she once was Dexter is horrified to hear that Judy's beauty has faded He understands that his "winter dream" has gone forever: he is no longer the idealistic young man who loved Judy Jones WINTER DREAMS SECTION 1 SUMMARY • BACK • NEXT • • • Dexter Green is a fourteen-year-old caddy at the Sherry Island Golf Club in Black Bear, Minnesota • • One day, Dexter... ambitions At what point in "Winter Dreams" does Dexter's desire for money separate from his desire for Judy Jones? What is the cause of this eventual splitting of purpose? Chew on This Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate Dexter's effortless financial success allows Fitzgerald, as a writer, to downplay the difficulties of earning money That way, "Winter Dreams" can focus instead... she has settled down It's all too much to process He feels that he has lost his winter dream, and he weeps for what he can never have But it's not just his dream he's lost: he has also lost that spark he once had He doesn't even care too much about Judy anymore • That romantic boy he used to be is gone forever WINTER DREAMS THEME OF SOCIETY AND CLASS • BACK • NEXT In our U.S History Shmoop learning... avoid the man waiting for her in her house on Sherry Island, who has just told her she is his ideal She can't take a compliment, apparently (Just kidding, that's actually kind of creepy.) WINTER DREAMS SECTION 3 SUMMARY • • BACK • NEXT Dexter stands waiting for Judy to come downstairs to dinner When she arrives, she behaves and is dressed pretty informally, which disappoints Dexter, who had his hopes... money than any man my age in the Northwest" (3.18) She leans over to kiss him, smiling (We ain't sayin' she's a gold digger ) Dexter realizes that he has wanted Judy Jones since he was a boy WINTER DREAMS SECTION 4 SUMMARY • BACK • NEXT • • • Dexter falls for Judy, hard • • • • • At the end of the summer, rumor has it that Judy has gotten engaged to a visiting New Yorker • (It has taken Dexter six seasons... she is "more beautiful than anybody else" (4.61) Ego much? • Dexter suddenly feels filled with tenderness and emotion, and when Judy asks him to come inside, he says yes Surprise surprise WINTER DREAMS SECTION 5 SUMMARY • BACK • NEXT • • The romance with Judy fizzles after one month What a shock • Dexter realizes two things: he will always love Judy Jones, and he will never have her Not a great situation ... kind of a story The title is "Winter Dreams, " but it might as well be "Where Winter Dreams Go to Die." There are plenty of coming-of-age stories out there, but "Winter Dreams" is unique because the... something spiritual within him has been lost: his illusion, his youth, his winter dream "Winter Dreams" and Gatsby Writing Winter Dreams in 1922, Fitzgerald created characters and developed conflicts... has made this decision to quit his job., but it has something to with his "winter dreams" (1.46) WINTER DREAMS SECTION SUMMARY • BACK • NEXT • • Following that whole fiasco, Dexter works to improve