Winter Dreams

Read our detailed study guide on the short story Winter Dreams by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Our study guide covers Winter Dreams summary, themes, characters, and literary analysis.

Winter Dreams Summary

The story opens in winter, and the main character of the story, Dexter Green skis across the golf course where he cartons in spring and summer to earn some money. His father is the owner of the second-best grocery store in Black-Bear, Minnesota. In April, the spring begins, and the first course of golfers begins. However, unlike miserable spring, the autumn and winter endow Dexter and ignite his imagination. Dexter also imagines that he beats the most esteemed members of the golf club.

During work, Dexter encounters Judy Jones. She is attended by her nurse and asks Dexter to carry her sports. Dexter cannot leave his place because of his duty. Judy shows her tantrums and attempts to hit her nurse with her clubs. When the master of the caddy returns, Dexter gets free to be the caddy of Judy. He quits. The winter dreams dictated him to quit the job of a caddie hastily. These dreams drive him to achieve material success.

In order to take admission in a more esteemed eastern university, Dexter skips the state school. He desires for luxury; however, his desires are declined. Dexter, being confident and articulate, borrows $1,000 off the power of his degree after college. He buys a partnership in a laundry. In the Upper East, he owns the largest chain of laundries by the age of twenty-seven. He sells his business and moves to New York.

The previous description was of the time when Dexter was at the peak of his success. When Dexter is twenty-three years old, he goes back to Sherry Island where once Mr. Hark gave him a ticket to pass a weekend. There were also other competitors, and Dexter feels superior to them and considers himself as not a part of this world. While the four are searching for the ball at the fifteen green, Miss Jones struck Mr. Hedrick in the stomach. Miss Jones wishes to play through yet does not realize that she has struck someone.

She continuously hits the ball while the men praise and criticize her beauty and an alternate behavior. In the evening, Dexter swims in the club’s lake, then stretches out on the springboard and listens to the piano playing at a distance. He feels delighted with the tune. However, the roar of the motorboat of Judy disturbs the peaceful scene. She has left a date because the man believes her his ideal. She asks Dexter to drive the boat to go water-ski.

The next evening, Dexter is waiting for Judy to arrive. He imagines all the privileged men who once loved her. Despite his humble background, he has gained sophistication and polish. Judy is dressed in simple clothes. She tells the maid to serve the dinner and informs Dexter that her parents will not attend them. Dexter feels relief.

After dinner, Judy asks Dexter if she can cry. Judy tells her that a man she was dating tells her that she is poor. When she inquires Dexter about his financial status, Dexter says that he is the richest young man in the region. Both of them kiss, and Dexter feels more passionate about her. 

Dexter shows persistence in his pursuit; however, in a picnic, she leaves him alone and goes with another man. She claims that there is nothing happening between her and the other man, yet Dexter does not believe her. 

Judy plays with different men who try to seek her affection. When summer ends, Dexter takes dwelling at a club in town. He also shows at dance parties when Judy attends. He still feels passionate about her and wants to take her to New York. However, he ultimately urges himself to accept the reality that he cannot take her in a way he wants. He starts working very hard and engages himself to Irene.

Irene and Dexter plan to announce their engagement. However, one night when the engagement is to be announced, Irene faces a severe headache that makes her cancel the plan. Dexter goes back to University Club. There Judy returns from her travels and approaches him. Judy and Dexter go for a drive. 

She flirts with him and asks to marry her. They also talk about their former passion. Judy then asks to be taken home. She cries quietly and repeats her wish to marry him. She offers him to get in. However, Dexter refuses.

Judy’s affection and passion for him cools down after a month. He does not regret that and also that Irene was deeply hurt by his unfaithfulness even though his reputation in the city has been negotiated. He loves Judy more than anything. He leaves for the East to sell him business and settle in New York. However, he is called back to the west because of the outbreak of war. He transfers his business to a partner. He starts basic training and welcomes the distraction of combat.

Seven years later, in New York, Dexter has achieved much success at the age of thirty-two. Dexter is informed that Judy married a friend of Dexter’s business associate. Her husband cheats on her and drinks heavily. Judy is all the time at home with her children. Moreover, Devlin, a business associate, tells him that she has lost her glamor and charm. 

Dexter personally feels the loss of her spark and beauty as his illusion of Judy is eventually shattered. He cries and mourns the past, along with the loss of youth that he will never reclaim.

Background of the Story

“Winter Dreams” is a short story published in December 1922 in Metropolitan magazine by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The story is considered as one of the finest works of Fitzgerald. It deals with the heartbreakingly portraying the loss of the illusions of youth.

Many of the themes of the novel are based on the famous novel The Great Gatsby, published in 1925. That is why the story is regarded as “Gatsby-cluster.”

Historical Context

In the short story Dexter Green, the main character of the short, briefly mentions that that war is coming to America in March. The World War was started in 1914 and ended in 1918. The United States entered the war in the spring of 1917. This period of the war was discerning with economic prosperity because of increased consumption and efficient manufacturing. Moreover, there was possible illegal manufacturing of alcohol or “bootlegging.”

In 1920, the Eighteenth Amendment was passed, which banned the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol. In the same year, the Nineteenth Amendment was also passed, which granted women the right to vote.

Literary Context

Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby is an account of Jay Gatsby, who is an ambitious man but has a poor and rural background. He wants social prestige, just like Dexter in “Winter Dreams.” Another short story, “The Rich Boy,” was published in 1926 also deals with the destructive effects of illusions.

In all of these works, Fitzgerald deals with the theme of nostalgia and addresses the apparent impossibility of true love. These accounts also deal with the frightening aspects of the American Dream as the rich and socially prominent people encounter unhappy and tragic fates.

The Muse

Fitzgerald met Ginevra King in 1914. She was a beautiful and appealing girl from Chicago. Fitzgerald was very attracted to her. He was one of many boyfriends. She married someone else. Ginerva is considered to be not only inspiration for the character of Judy Jones in “Winter Dreams;” she is also for Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby.

Characters Analysis

Dexter Green

Dexter Green is the protagonist of the short story “Winter Dreams.” When the story begins, he is a teenager who is very much class-conscious. He lives in Black Bear, Minnesota. The story is an account of his maturation into a successful businessman in New York. Even though Dexter grows professionally and achieves great success, he is not able to grow emotionally until when at the end of the story, he realizes that his youth is gone.

Dexter belongs to a middle-class family and is the son of the owner of a grocery store. He spends his summer working as a caddie at Sherry Island Golf Club. Looking at the wealthy member of the community, Dexter learns to model himself. Even though he belongs to a simple and modest family, he is very passionate about attaining material success and social prestige. 

He does not only want to be equal to the elite members of the golf community. He also wants to be equal to the Eastern elites who have an old and well-established background.

Because of his desire to climb to social order, he skips the state school to attend the university in the East. He then became the owner of the largest chain of laundries in the Middle East. He sells his business and settles in New York.

In this journey of success, Dexter continuously lusts for Judy Jones and falls in love with her. Judy is the daughter of a wealthy man. She is very beautiful. Dexter and Judy have on and off relationships. After his breakup with Judy, Dexter engages with Irene. However, his obsessive love, Judy, makes him break his engagement. Dexter loves Judy less than the status she can offer him, along with her beauty and wealth. 

At the end of the story, when Dexter learns that the beauty of Judy fades away, his “winter dream” also fades away. He was in the constant illusion that proximity and money could offer happiness and security.

Judy Jones

Judy Jones is one of the central characters of the story. She is an attractive, charming, and beautiful daughter of one of the wealthy members of the club, Mortimer Jones. She is the obsessive love interest of Dexter Green throughout the story. When she first appears in the story, she is a “beautifully ugly” eleven years old girl who orders Dexter to carry her sports. She transforms into an “arrestingly beautiful” twenty years old lady.

Judy serially dates with a different wealthy man and has a reputation for promiscuity. When Dexter attains success, she starts dating him, along with other men. Dexter proses her to marry her, and she agrees. However, as always, Judy breaks the marriage and marries Lud Simms.

Judy has a carefree and direct personality. She is self-possessed; that is why Dexter feels irresistible. After marrying Simms, she becomes a housewife and has children. She lost her beauty and looks and is in a miserable condition because of her husband’s faithfulness and alcoholism.  

T. A. Hedrick

Hedrick is one of the wealthy members of the Sherry Island Golf Club. One of the winter dreams of Dexter is setback Hedrick in a game. According to Dexter, Hedrick has a reputation of a good player of gold; however, when he plays a game with him, he changes his mind. After attaining excessive wealth, Dexter considers himself superior to other members. He starts a thing of Hedrick as a “bore.”

When all the men search for a lost golf ball, Jody struck Hedrick in the stomach. The presence of Judy annoys Hedrick because she is the only woman in the golf club, and secondly, she has a reputation for promiscuity.

Mortimer Jones

He is the father of Judy and the wealthy member of the Sherry Island Golf Club. Because of the exceptional abilities of Dexter as a caddie, he takes great interest in him when he is fourteen years old. When Dexter decides to leave the job, Jones is very upset; however, he does not know the cause of this decision is his daughter.

Dexter idealizes Jones and wants to be a man of his caliber. He even fantasizes about being as rich as Jones, who emerges from the Pierce-Arrow automobile.

Devlin

He is Dexter’s business associate and visits him in New York. Devlin is the best friend of Judy’s husband, Lud Simms, and also knows Judy. Devlin casually mentions Judy when he visits Dexter. He tells him that she has lost her beauty and charm. 

He also tells her that she is living in an unhappy marriage as Simms heavily drinks and cheats on her. To Devlin, Judy’s beauty is not at all remarkable and considers her as inferior to Simms.

Irene Scheerer

After breaking up with Judy, Dexter engages with Irene. She is described as a sweet and honorable and light hair woman. When Dexter proposes to marry her, she gives up all of her suitors. She, along with her family, is happy with the engagement. However, the engagement ends when Dexter sleeps with Judy. 

Even though Irene is a beautiful and honorable lady, she is not exciting at all. Dexter does not feel any passion for her that he feels for Judy even though she offers domestic satisfaction and security. 

Hilda

She is Judy’s nurse. She brings Judy to the golf club when she is eleven years old. She tries to take help from Dexter to teach Judy how to play golf even though he has already been assigned to another member. Judy does not appear to be pleased when Hilda tells Dexter that she cannot play. Hilda’s absence of discretion and her speech reveals that she belongs to the lower class. Judy also tries to hit Hilda on her breast when they walk away from Dexter.

Mrs. Scheerer

She is the mother of Irene. She is very kind and likes Dexter. She is deeply hurt when Dexter betrays her daughter.

Mr. Hart

He is a successful businessman and admires the passion and work ethic of Dexter. He also offers a weekend guest pass to Dexter to the Sherry Island Golf Club.

Mr. Sandwood

He is a member of the golf club. He plays a golf game with Dexter when he is twenty years old. He is also attracted to the beauty of Judy Jones.

Themes in Winter Dreams by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The American Dream: A Nightmare

The title of the story refers to the winter dreams that Dexter embodies. These “winter dreams” are also known as the American Dream. Even though Dexter attains great success and becomes a successful businessman, he pays a great price for it. The social mobility that Dexter attains as a result of wealth, it heavily restricts his capacity for happiness.

Dexter comes from a humble background. His father was the owner of a grocery store, and his mother was an immigrant who consistently struggles with the language. The story revolves around the central irony that the realization of the American Dream produces unwelcoming rewards. 

For instance, when Dexter is a teenager and works as a caddy, he dreams of attaining success and happiness that money will bring. He dreams of defeating Hedrick in a golf match. However, when he finally defeats him, he does not feel much happiness.

Dexter has crossed the middle-class inertia. However, he cannot buy happiness with the money that he tirelessly earns.

Dexter appears to have an unclear relationship with the rich people and the blueblood that reside in his social world. He feels proud of himself and his self-made status and does not respect those who are both with the silver spoon in their mouth. However, Dexter wants to be a part of the world to which these men belong. His pursuit of Judy is not only because he loves her but also wants to attain the social status that comes with her.

Even though Dexter attains great success, and he feels himself to be a novel, more praiseworthy, and stringer version of the world of Mortimer Jones, he still imitates the appearance and gestures of the rich. Dexter pays lots of attention to his appearance. He is so concerned with small details that only an outsider who is disguised as a wealthy man can notice. 

The status and position of Dextress in this world is at risk. He does not have any room for error in etiquette and appearance. Fitzgerald tries to expose the hollowness and emptiness that comes when a person tries to pursue the American Dream aggressively. Through Dexter and the world that he represents, Fitzgerald shows that choosing wealth and social status as a substitute for strong connections to people eclipse the possibility of emotional fulfillment and happiness.

Reality versus Idealism

In the short story “Winter Dreams,” reality and idealism are in constant odds with each other. Judy and Dexter constantly try to search for meaning and happiness in the short story. Dexter becomes the victim of the winter dreams. These dreams are the teenage illusion that he never achieves. In his constant search for happiness and love, he only focuses on Judy Jones. He makes her the only subject for his romantic projections. 

However, instead of providing love and a sense of fulfillment to Dexter, Judy’s display of time-being affection initiates more desire and passion in Dexter. Dexter is unable to see the real Judy and who she is in actuality, rather he takes her as an ideal woman who embodies perfect love.

Judy later reveals her true nature when she tells Dexter that she breaks off with a man who wants to pursue her because of her beauty and does not belong to a strong financial background. Even then, Dexter is blind to see her real nature and his idealistic view of her. He cannot digest the reality as it will make him forgo his idealistic view about Judy, even though Dexter acknowledges the real threat that Judy’s charm and beauty carry. 

He also tries to convince himself that he doesn’t love her anymore. However, he cannot completely separate himself from the uncountable and romantic attachment he has with Judy. Eventually, because of his own stubborn ideals, he becomes the victim of Judy’s inconsistent behavior.

Judy and Dexter, time and again, struggle with inconsistencies between fantasy and reality. For instance, Dexter is disappointed to see Judy in a simple and average dressing. He was expecting ritual and pomp, Judy blandly ordered the maid to serve the dinner. 

Judy treats Dexter with interest, malice, encouragement, contempt, and indifference in their protracted and ambiguous relationship. However, the reality of Dexter and Judy’s relationship is not welcoming at all. However, they both are limp along due to the idealistic vision.

Gender and Ambition

When Judy Jones is introduced in the short story, she is an eleven-year-old daughter of a wealthy Mortimer Jones. She has a perceptible spark and passionate quality that appears to be bewitching to Dexter. However, when she shows imperviousness on the golf course, Dexter decides to quit his job of caddying. 

Moreover, he remembers his winter dreams and resolution that he should not take the order of anyone who is so young. Dexter meets Judy again after several years when he makes his fortune at the laundry business. Now, Judy appears to be “arrestingly beautiful” to him.

One of the interesting things is, the readers do not know anything about the physical appearance of Dexter. The only thing mentioned about him in the story is his background, class, and ambition. However, Judy is described only on the basis of his appearance and how she uses them to lure wealthy men.

The way Fitzgerald characterizes Dexter and Judy mirrors the limitation of gender. Dexter utilizes his energy and passion for creating a business for him, while Judy hopes to find herself a husband through her looks.

Hedrick appears to be scornful of Judy’s propensity to hunt for any wealthy man in the town. He uses a metaphor “big cow-eyes on every calf” for Jody, and it perfectly defines her deliberate actions. She shows fake passion and affection to men and attracts them to marry her, even though she is not sincere with any of them as she has many suitors and thus many options. Just like Dexter, Judy is also planning for her future deliberately. However, Dexter is praised while Judy is criticized.

Both Dexter and Judy consume people like material. The way Judy is indifferent to her suitors and treats them with indifference, Dexter is indifferent to Irene. He believes that apart from a bushel of content, Irene will not bring him happiness. He always looks for happiness in Judy. 

He refuses the domestic comfort offered by Irene for the passion he has for Judy. They both pick people up and then discard them at their own whim. Fitzgerald pointed out the shared hard-minded attitude of Judy and Dexter, and this attitude is born from their ambition for influence and wealth.

Time, Progress, and Repetition

In the short story “Winter Dreams,” time has two competing models. In the story, Fitzgerald has juxtaposed the linear concept of time with the cyclic one. The linear narrative of time deals with Dexter moving to the East and becoming a wealthy man; his career develops and so does his age. The movement of time is linear. While cyclic nature of time is shown through the season, and it shows the lack of emotional maturation of Dexter.

When he is introduced in the story, he is an ambitious and eager teenager. He is presented as someone who is in a perpetual cycle of melancholy and hope, which is nourished by Dexter’s “fleeting brilliant impressions of the summer at Sherry Island.” The cycle of hope and melancholy is linked with the winter dreams of Dexter, which like the winter season, recurrent and cannot be sustained and captured. 

Though the business and professional career of Dexter is making a linear progression, his physiological progression is cyclic. He returns to the Island both physically and in imaginations until, at the end of the story, he awakens from his winter dream. And then realizes that he cannot return.

Both structurally and symbolically, winter is important to the narrative. When the story begins, it is winter, and when it ends, it is again winters. This suggests the whole journey of Dexter from ambitious youth to a successful businessman is in the form of a natural cycle,

At the beginning of the story, the winters in Minnesota are described as something like a white lid of the box that leaves everything covered in snow. This site of snow, though, offends Dexter as the site of so much activity turns desolate, he passionately skies over the course. At this time, golf represents a part of the rarefied world, and he feels a part of it. 

However, the world only exists in summer. Just like his relationship to the golf course, the winter dreams of Dexter also appear to be delusional.

Certainly, at the end of the story, Dexter realizes the fact that despite the fact he has achieved tremendous success, he can never achieve the life he dreamed of or imagined. He always finds himself imagining skiing on the golf course. He imagines himself to be a part of something that only exists in his dreams/imagination.

When he learns that he will never be able to marry Judy, he also realizes that his winter dreams are never going to be fulfilled. In the story, Judy is associated with summer as it is the season when the wealthy members of golfclub flaunt their wealth and also inspire the winter dreams of Dexter.

The loss of Judy makes Dexter cry not only because he has lost something warm and beautiful but also because he will never be able to get back to that summer, which was a source of reliving for him. His realization means that time must move forward towards the darkness. Like Judy, the sun has faded and only leaves the closed gates. Fitzgerald makes the readers realize that time moves forward while dreams are recurrent and cyclic illusions. The dreams of Dexter can become his reality, just like summer and winter cannot co-exist.

Literary Analysis

“Winter Dream” by Fitzgerald is structured and narrated in a way that mirrors Fitzgerald’s critical view of the world that he has tried to depict in his story. Just like the divided nature in the story, the characters of Fitzgerald are shown as incomplete and fractured as they hunt for wealth and pleasure.

The short story has six sections that vary in length, suggesting the many betrayals and affection of Judy and Dexter’s relationship. Moreover, the particular structure of the story also suggests that there is no coherent core to ground the characters for meaning and stability in their search for identity and self-awareness. 

Certainly, Dexter lacks a clear and definite sense of self. Dexter is the product of fragmentary experiences as the story relates to the aspects of coming-of-age. He struggles to find direction and clarity in Judy that his own life lacks.

The way Fitzgerald narrates the story, his views about the whirlwind lives of Judy and Dexter is very much apparent. Fitzgerald, at several points, directly addresses readers, which makes the story immediate and highlights the fact that he is not only just narrating the story but also extracting some particular details from the lives of his character for some good reasons. The direct addresses are sometimes in the form of rhetorical questions.

The story moves about in time and is an account of the lives of Judy Jones and Dexter Green in just two decades. This narrative and structural choice lend richness and complexity to the description of the gradual draining away of the illusion of Dexter. 

Fitzgerald also proposes the intricate role that is played by different events that shape the response of Dexter to Judy through juxtaposing different disembodied episodes in the personal and professional life of Dexter and therefore set up the high cost of his winter dreams.

Dexter is unable to bury his past. He is always living in his past. For instance, the wound of Judy’s arrogance on the golf course is an impending presence that Fitzgerald invokes to make the disillusionment of Dexter at the end of the story.

Dexter tries to escape from the temporary changes, and the passage of the seasons function as the background to the romantic possession. When the story begins, Dexter is fourteen years old and ultimately offers a quick summary of his rise and progression in life. However, when the story concludes, Dexter is only thirty-three years old. 

The character of Dexter is shown as an ironic juxtaposition in just a few paragraphs. From being a caddy to having his own caddies that run his club for him, Dexter’s life has progressed. The fluid sense of time off, as shown by Fitzgerald in the story, functions to highlight Dexter’s loss of youth and the gap that will increase with time and never get close. 

Historical Context

Fitzgerald’s story “Winter Dreams” is an account of the coming of age of two young people. However, the story also deals with a historical period that serves as a background of on and of the relationship between Judy and Dexter.  The time period, as shown in the story, is the early decades of the twentieth century – from the mid of the first decade to the early 1920s.

The early twenties were known as the Jazz and is more precisely known for the time of unchecked hedonism. Self-gratification was the most popular notion of the time. It was the era of opulent parties, grand social gestures, and fashion trends for the affluent people. It was the time when people were the least concerned about their past and even did not have any regard for the future. 

The time also saw many people endorsing a reckless embrace of the moment as America has emerged as a victorious country from World War I, and entered into extraordinary economic prosperity. Fitzgerald captured the spirit of the age in his image and emerged as the laureate of the Jazz Age. He also embodies freewheeling and hedonistic zeal in his personal life.

In the short story “Winter Dreams,” Fitzgerald tries to avoid the images of the stereotypical images of the time, such as gangsters, speakeasies, and flappers. However, he only deals with certain types of characters. 

The character of Judy embodies all types of girls who are selfish, fickle, and histrionic rich girls. She controls her body and throws over men so as to navigate her way through the social world through her charm and beauty. Judy is so much involved in the moment and does not have much regard for the larger implications of her changes of heart.

On the other side, Dexter is a convert who represents the middle-class imposter standing outside the bars and seduced by the self-indulgence and wealth represented by the dancing couple. To Fitzgerald, those who are not able to escape the world, the pursuit of pleasures alienates them. The unofficial motto of the jazz babies, the flappers, and the idle rich people was “pleasure for pleasure’s sake.” In the character of Judy and Dexter, Fitzgerald tries to indicate the decadence of the Jazz Age.

Motifs

The recurrent images, structures, and literary devices in a literary text are called Motifs. The emphasis on the idea helps develop the major themes of a work. The following are the motifs in the short story “Winter Dreams” by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Similes

Throughout “Winter Dreams,” Fitzgerald uses the similes to make abstract notions appear concrete, more particularly at the beginning of the story’ for instance, drive to succeed and frustration of love. The similes also propose a harbor that separates reality from illusion.

For example, the first sentences describe some of the caddies, unlike Dexter, as “poor as sin.” Moreover, in winters in Minnesota, the golf course is covered with snow “like the white lid of a box,” and the winds are “cold as misery.” Fitzgerald employed these similes to set the unhappy tone for the story, which he is going to narrate. These similes are preoccupied with the depressing notion of poverty and misery.

With the help of similes, the abstract idea of Dexter’s winter dreams is clarified. His dream of success consists of undeveloped hopes for wealth and success, along with the happiness and satisfaction accompanying wealth. Even though Dexter translates his happiness into reality by becoming the richest man of his region, he is still dodged by the abstract notion, for instance, he is never able to find true love and accepts the responsibility of being in relationship with someone else.

When he meets the adult Judy for the first time, Dexter’s heart “turned over like the fly-wheel on the boat.” This simile employed by Fitzgerald establishes a relationship between the actual realm and abstract realm, illusion, and reality, and inevitable disappointments and love.

Winter

The title of the story refers to the desire for affluence and status. It suggests the snowy barrenness and also sets the gloomy tone of the story that unfolds. During the season of dormancy and death, Dexter forms the greatest goals of his life. Over here, Fitzgerald employed an irony suggesting that these goals will not be affirming as imagined by Dexter.

Both structurally and symbolically, winter is important to the narrative. When the story begins, it is winter, and when it ends, it is again winters. This suggests the whole journey of Dexter from ambitious youth to a successful businessman is in the form is a natural cycle, 

At the beginning of the story, the winters in Minnesota are described as something like a white lid of the box that leaves everything covered in snow. This site of snow, though, offends Dexter as the site of so much activity turns desolate, he passionately skies over the course. 

At this time, golf represents a part of the rarefied world, and he feels a part of it. However, the world only exists in summer. Just like his relationship to the golf course, the winter dreams of Dexter also appear to be delusional.

Certainly, at the end of the story, Dexter realizes the fact that despite the fact he has achieved tremendous success, he can never achieve the life he dreamed of or imagined. He always finds himself imagining skiing on the golf course. He imagines himself to be a part of something that only exists in his dreams/imagination.

Symbols

Abstract ideas and concepts in a literary text are represented by objects, characters, and figures. The following are the symbols in the short story “Winter Dreams” by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

The Boat

In the story, the boat is not only the symbol of luxury but also shows that indulgence and emptiness in life lead to. The boat is a very prominent and memorable entrance in the story. When Dexter is enjoying the peaceful moment and solitude on the raft, Judy approaches him in her boat.

Dexter is lost in a dream and filled with the bliss of arrival as he has finally achieved the success he dreamt of long ago. At that moment, he is entertaining the most favorable of predictions when he looks forward to the future. Dexter is feeling a kind of satisfaction and contentment that he never experienced again with that intensity.

The roaring motor overpowers the thoughts of Dexter about the charming and prospering life ahead and abruptly interrupts his musing. Judy’s arrival in the boat foreshadows the profound ways that will impact the future happiness of Dexter through the ensuing passion of Dexter.

The boat functions as an escape from reality for Judy. Her suitors and admirers quickly learn that she is too fast to clasp and only lives for the sake of her own pleasure. When she tells Dexter to drive the boat for her, Dexter obeys her. It is the first of the series of commands that he will obey.

The boat is an object of wealth and affluence and suggests how remote Judy is from reality. Judy tells Dexter that she has abandoned men who idealize her and drive her boat to the raft. Thus one can say that the boat is her source of escape in which the opposite gender tries to fit her in their dreams and reflect their idealized visions of a perfect woman. 

Likewise, when she gets bored with the man in New York, she hides again in the boat. The boat appears to be the refuge for Judy from the men’s oppressive affections. It is an expensive toy that removes her from any commitment or responsibility for her actions.

Golf Balls

The golf balls are part of the luxurious world of the country club. It symbolizes the harm of the idle life and severe requirements that one must adapt to so as to show that they belong to the upper class of society. Dexter is a self-made businessman. However, he desperately tries to acquire the habits of the upper class and blend with this affluent world.

The imagery of the golf ball appears twice in “Winter Dreams.” Both of the time, the imagery mirrors the ease of the upper-class that the game embodies. The golfers use red and black balls before the spring defrosts in the North Country. The red and black balls stand out in the patches of snow on the course. 

This imagery comes first in the story when Dexter is in his teens and works as a caddy. He is excluded from Judy Jones and her set only because he belongs to the middle-class and has limited resources. However, when he becomes a successful businessman, he sacrifices his own identity and individuality for the white balls he uses.

Tone

The tone of the short story “Winter Dreams” is wistful and nostalgic. For example, the wistful and nostalgic tone of the short story is depicted in the story when Dexter steals a date with Judy in section three:

“During dinner [Judy] slipped into a moody depression which gave Dexter a feeling of uneasiness. Whatever petulance she uttered in her throaty voice worried him. Whatever she smiled at — at him, at a chicken liver, at nothing — it disturbed him that her smile could have no root in mirth, or even in amusement.”

 The response of Dexter matters more than the reason for Judy’s sadness as it gives out important information about the character. Dexter has a feeling that something is wrong but is unable to figure out what is wrong. The issue is Dexter is not able to understand Judy, and that appears to be sad. Though he longs for her, he can never get her.

The language of the passage is worried, uneasy, and disturbed, and it makes the readers feel like they do not know what is going on. Fitzgerald’s use of such language makes the readers really anxious. However, he intently uses these words so as to reinforce the idea that Dexter will long for her but will never get her. 

Another example of this wistful tone is:

“The dream was gone. Something had been taken from him. In a sort of panic, he pushed the palms of his hands into his eyes and tried to bring up a picture of … her mouth damp to his kisses and her eyes plaintive with melancholy and her freshness like new fine linen in the morning. Why, these things were no longer in the world! They had existed and they existed no longer.”

There are repeated words such as “taken,” gone,” and “no longer” in the passage, which shows the wistful tone of the short story.

Genre

The genre of the short story “Winter Dreams” is literary fiction and coming-of-age. The story starts when Dexter Green, the protagonist of the novel, is fourteen years old. When the story ends, he is thirty-two years old. However, his coming-of-age experiences are not something positive. He has compromised his dreams and faces the resentments to lose his ideals.

The main interest of the story is in the psychology of Dexter Green, which indicates that the short story “Winter Dreams” is literary fiction. The melancholic tone and careful style of formal storytelling of Fitzgerald belong to the genre of literary fiction. 

Title

The title of the story refers to the desire for affluence and status. It suggests the snowy barrenness and also sets the gloomy tone of the story that unfolds. During the season of dormancy and death, Dexter forms the greatest goals of his life. Over here, Fitzgerald employed an irony suggesting that these goals will not be affirming as imagined by Dexter.

Both structurally and symbolically, winter is important to the narrative. When the story begins, it is winter, and when it ends, it is again winters. This suggests the whole journey of Dexter from ambitious youth to a successful businessman is in the form is a natural cycle,

At the beginning of the story, the winters in Minnesota are described as something like a white lid of the box that leaves everything covered in snow. This site of snow, though, offends Dexter as the site of so much activity turns desolate, he passionately skies over the course. At this time, golf represents a part of the rarefied world, and he feels a part of it. However, the world only exists in summer. Just like his relationship to the golf course, the winter dreams of Dexter also appear to be delusional.

Certainly, at the end of the story, Dexter realizes the fact that despite the fact he has achieved tremendous success, he can never achieve the life he dreamed of or imagined. He always finds himself imagining skiing on the golf course. He imagines himself to be a part of something that only exists in his dreams/imagination.

Setting

There are three main settings of the short story “Winter Dreams.” These are Black Bear, Minnesota, Sherry Island Golf Club, and New York.

Most of the action of the story happens at the Sherry Island Golf Club. It is the place when young Dexter sees young Judy Jones for the first time. It is the place when Dexter sees Judy as an adult for the second time, and he falls in love with her. It is the place where Dexter observes the lifestyle of rich and famous people and wants to attain the same lifestyle for himself.

The Sherry Island Golf Club is the best place for the story. For instance, the natural beauty and loveliness of the place link the notion of money and beauty together in the mind of young Dexter. He always thinks that where there is beauty, there is cash.

Moreover, Shelly Island also lets the readers imagine the class issue with respect to geography. For instance, the narrator mentions that Dexter belongs to Black Bear place; however, there is no description of the place. In Dexter’s imagination, the place has no significant importance. However, Dexter pays more importance to Sherry’s Island as the place is inhabited by rich people. 

The place makes Dexter feel like “magnificently attune to life, radiating brightness and glamour he might never know again.” It is the place where Dexter goes while dreaming of improving his financial standing and social life.

Moreover, Sherry Island is near to the place where Dexter grows up. This fact constantly reminds Dexter of his own class and background: though he is from the middle-class, he has a humble origin. Dexter wants to spend his time at Sherry Island, but he is never able to forget his background. Even though he becomes excessively rich, he still does not belong to the rich world that is symbolized by Sherry Island.

Fancy New York

New York City represents richness as symbolized by Sherry Island. Dexter starts in Minnesota, however, leaves the town and starts living in New York. Minnesota is the native town of Fitzgerald. He is well aware of the class and social difference between New York and St. Paul

Writing Style

The writing style of the short story is straightforward and lush. The short story moves between the relatively straightforward dialogues and descriptions and beautiful imagery. The dialogues between Dexter and business associates let his nightmare swim off Island as:

“The tune the piano was playing at that moment had been gay and new five years before when Dexter was a sophomore at college. They had played it at a prom once when he could not afford the luxury of proms, and he had stood outside the gymnasium and listened. The sound of the tune precipitated in him a sort of ecstasy, and it was with that ecstasy he viewed what happened to him now. It was a mood of intense appreciation, a sense that, for once, he was magnificently attuned to life and that everything about him was radiating brightness and glamour he might never know again.”

This short passage contains the gist of Fitzgerald’s writing style in the story. The passage gives a strong feeling of passing the time. While listening to the music standing outside the gymnasium and listening to the inside activities, Dexter thinks of the prom held five years ago.

Putting differently, Dexter is looking back to the time when he was on the verge of financial success, both literally and symbolically. He was outside the social sphere of college, and now he is actively participating in the rich social activities. The music makes him remember his place five years ago and now how far he has come. This style also contributes to the wistful and nostalgic tone of the short story.

The passage also deals with how Dexter links social success and wealth with natural beauty. Dexter feels like he is beautiful when he is around rich people. He feels wonderfully acclimatize to life when he sits in darkness and listens to music. For him, everything in the Sherry Island appears to radiate a “brightness and a glamour he might never know again.”

The words such as “brightness,” “glamour,” and “ecstasy,” and the rich language of the passage depicts the beauty that Dexter links with the wealth and rich life. The passage is quite wordy and descriptive as it gives the readers some idea of the artistry that Dexter fantasies his wealth will provide. He really hopes for a high life.

Such moments sharply contrasts with the ordinary conversation that Dexter has with his partners at the golf club or with his business associates Devlin. The romantic idealism of Dexter comes from his own imagination as the actual interaction with rich people is extremely dull. 

In “Winter Dreams,” these people lack the fertility of these descriptive moments. To emphasize the difference between the dull reality of the business world and Dexter’s dreams in this world, Fitzgerald uses the contrasting straightforward and rich style.

Narrator Point of View

The short story “Winter Dreams” is narrated in third person point of view. The narrator of the story is limited and omniscient. The narrator talks about the life of Dexter Green as a third person. The narrator only emphasizes the impression, thoughts, and memories of Dexter only and gives detailed descriptions of his thoughts and impressions.

Even though the story is not narrated from the first-person point of view, the only three-dimensional character of the story is Dexter. This is why the narrator is called a limited omniscient. The narrator knows everything; however, his knowledge is restricted to only one person, and that is Dexter Green. All of the other characters appear to be flesh out of the character of Dexter, even the character of Judy Jones.