Claudine Caluza

Mrs. Storer
English 3/Block 5
26 November 2019
Socratic Circle Reflection on Psychoanalytic and Marxists Readings
During the Socratic Seminar, we discussed and analyzed the story “Winter Dreams” by
Scott Fitzgerald, which was about a young man who works hard in order to rise to a higher place
in society. The young man, Dexter, also does this in order to pursue his love, Judy Jones. Our
facilitator was Kate Clifton, and the first question that she decided to discuss was, “Are money
and social status the same thing?”. In this discussion, my group ultimately agreed upon the same
things, like in a way money and social status have correlation with each other, but money does
not reflect status. An interesting topic that Patrick and Sofia brought up was that it is very
common that celebrities, or rich people, will be friends with other celebrities and rich people.
But, it is also true that poor people or people from a different social class can clash with upper
class people, because the amount of money a person has does not reflect the quality of a persons’
personality. Like many other students in my group, they did a really good job connecting the
story into real life current events. Our facilitator did a great job trying to expand on others
thoughts in order to get the conversation flowing, and she even asked questions on why one gave
a specific answer. On one occurrence, they connected Maria’s answer on how money and social
status depend on each other to the next question, which was, “Does the quest for money and
social status permeate all aspects of our lives as the APA article suggests?”. Overall, my group
did really well supporting their answers by quoting the text and keeping the conversation
flowing. They were very polite.
In the discussions I participated in, I mentioned that I agreed with money and social
status were the same because without money, one has no status, and how status is dependent on
where one stands financially. I obtained this information by using the APA article titled “Class
Differences”. Maria also added onto mine that the two depended on each other, which I
appreciated a lot. According to my partners Max and Jennah, I did an outstanding job deepening
the groups understanding by agreeing and adding onto others opinions. I also expanded on what
others have mentioned. I was very polite, and I allowed others to receive the chance to share
their ideas, when I knew they have not shared yet. I also did not interrupt others, and gave them
the chance to fully explain their opinion. In order to improve for our next discussion, I need to be
prepared with more textual evidence in the moment, and I need to assert myself more in order to
share my ideas as well.
For an imaginary essay, my thesis statement would be, “The quest for money and social
status permeates all aspects of our lives because every action costs money, without money you
have nothing, and we need it to thrive. My main points would be supported by quotes from the
APA article “Class Differences” and the “Winter Dreams” text. I would mention that in order for
Dexter to reach his goal of getting the girl, Judy Jones, he needed to work hard for money. He
needed the money to show off. Also, Dexter was affected mentally, since he always felt the need
to compare himself to others, such as the rich golfers, because he did not feel he was worth
anything to be in a relationship with Judy Jones.
In my life, I too also have a personal wealth gain quest, but it is only so that I can afford
items for myself such as new clothes and makeup. Although this was not the same goal as
Dexter, I believe we had the same intentions, in order to feel better about ourselves and feel more
worth it. My wealth gain is also for more material items rather than pursuing love. In my
opinion, Dexter is stupid because he thinks that gaining money will make him worth more.
Personally, I will pursue love if their personality attracts me and if they are funny. Yes, money
dominates our standing. I also want to work hard to impress people such as myself. Dexter
worked hard in order to impress a girl, but I would rather work hard for myself.