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.
Contents
What are two themes of Winter Dreams?
Winter Dreams Themes
- Class Mobility and the American Dream. “Winter Dreams” illustrates how social class defines people’s lives, often with unfortunate results.
- Gender and Ambition.
- Dreams, Happiness, and Reality.
- Time, Progress, and Repetition.
What is the theme of disillusionment in Winter Dreams?
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.
What is Winter Dreams by F Scott Fitzgerald about?
In winter, Dexter Green, son of the owner of the second-best grocery store in Black Bear, Minnesota, skis across the snowed-in golf course where he caddies in the warmer months to earn his pocket money.Unlike the dismal spring, the autumn and winter empower Dexter and stimulate his imagination.
What does the end of Winter Dreams mean?
So once she loses her looks and falls into a marriage with a cheating alcoholic, Dexter loses the last of his illusions about the romantic life of the upper class. And as for Dexter, he realizes that his pursuit of those dreams at all costs have left him with a big fat nothing.
Why does Dexter cry at the end of Winter Dreams?
Those winter dreams are somewhere in his past. Now he knows that money means hard business sense: there is nothing romantic about it at all.So when he mourns at the end of “Winter Dreams,” it’s not Judy Jones he remembers; Dexter cries for his own boyhood.
Why is it called Winter Dreams?
The title “Winter Dreams” is symbolic of Dexter Green’s future ambitions that are never realized, but which always occupy his mind. Winter is a season when much of nature lies dormant.He is “dictated to by his winter dreams.” Dexter achieves his dream of becoming rich, but his success is rather fortuitous.
What is the mood and tone in Winter Dreams?
The mood of Winter Dreams is one of wistful melancholy and longing. Throughout the story, the reader is aware of Dexter’s hopes for more of something,…
How old is Dexter at the end of winter dreams?
fourteen-year-old
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.
What is the American Dream in Winter Dreams?
In the story, the American Dream, or the “winter dream,” is an endless—and ultimately unfulfilling—pursuit based on external standards of success and happiness. Dexter’s pursuit of his “winter dreams” compels him to model himself after wealthy people: he views wealth as the only valid measure of success.
What does the boat symbolize in Winter Dreams?
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.
Why did Bernice bob her hair?
Marjorie tells various boys that Bernice never intended to bob her hair and that it was merely a ploy to attract their attentions. To prove Marjorie wrong, Bernice consents to be taken to a barbershop by Warren, Marjorie, and a coterie of admirers.
What happens to Judy Jones at the end of winter dreams?
In the end, all we really know about Judy is that her endless search for satisfaction seems to burn itself out by the end of the story. She marries a businessman from Detroit, Lud Simms. She has lost her looks and devoted herself to her children. Her husband drinks too much and sleeps around.
Why does Judy weep when she invites Dexter to her house for dinner?
Judy explains her “moody depression” during the meal as caused by a man’s revelation to her of his poverty when she had not suspected it, and it only shocked her because he had concealed it.
What are some symbols in winter dreams?
F Scott Fitzgerald’s “Winter Dreams” includes many types of symbols such as colors to represent different feelings, or to foreshadow what is next to come. “Dexter is associated with green through the golf courses, the money he earns, youthful naivete and hope” (LaHood).
What does Devlin say about Judy’s age?
What does Devlin say about Judy’s age/appearance to Dexter at the end of the story? She looks older than she is. What might the loss of Judy’s beauty symbolize for Dexter? the loss of his youth and dreams.
Who is Irene Scheerer?
– Dexter’s fiancée whom Dexter describes as “light-haired and sweet and honorable, and a little stout.” Unlike Judy, she quickly gives up her other suitors when Dexter asks her to marry him.
Who does Dexter marry in winter dreams?
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.
What does Dexter fantasize about in winter dreams?
In “Winter Dreams,” Dexter’s fantasies relate to his acceptance by established members of the Sherry Island golf club.He might caddy “only for pocket money,” but he finds the world of the Sherry Island Golf Club extremely appealing. It helps to fuel his “winter dreams” that “command imaginary audiences and armies.”
In what ways is the setting of winter dreams important?
Fitzgerald uses setting to emphasize the allure—and emptiness—of the “glittering things” Dexter prizes so much. For example, Dexter’s initial meeting with Judy takes place on the Sherry Island golf course, an artificial landscape that is nonetheless subject to the ravages of winter.
Which type of character is Judy Jones?
Judy is a foil character in the narrative as her wealthy upbringing contrasts Dexter’s more humble beginnings. Throughout the story, Judy is casually cruel to Dexter as she plays with his heart and emotions. In the end, her life falls short of the life that Dexter and others expected for her.