WINTER DREAMS

By F. Scott Fitzgerald
 SUMMARY:
• This story is about Dexter green, a middle class
thirteen year old caddy.
• He had a dream of getting rich
• One day while he was at his caddying place he
met a lovely Judy Jones and she was from royal
family.
• He quits his caddying job.
• Decided to follow his winter dreams to become a
kind of man Judy deserves.
• He decided to complete his studies.
 Cont..
• Years later, after college Dexter invests in a laundry
business and made a lot of money from it.
• He meets Judy Jones second time after many years.
• Judy asks him to join her for dinner, he eagerly accepts.
• Dexter fell in love with her but soon realizes that she
doesn’t care about him.
• So, Dexter gets engaged to Irene Scheerer. She was a
nice girl.
• Judy again asks Dexter to marry her, Dexter trips over
to Irene and again begin his affair with Judy and it only
lasts for month.
 Cont..
• Dexter moves to New York, started getting busy in his work
to have a distraction form his pathetic personal life.
• Now after seven years Dexter is thirty two.
• He hears from one person that Judy has married Mr.Simms
and he is not a good man.
• He drinks too much and cheats on her.
• When Dexter came to know about Judy and that Judy’s
beauty has faded and that she had settle down.
• Dexter felt so down, lied down in his office and he weeps
for what he can never have.
• He felt that he has lost his winter dream.
 AMERICAN DREAM:
• The American Dream is the belief that anyone, regardless of where they

were born or what class they were born into, can attain their own version of

success in a society where upward mobility is possible for everyone.

• The American Dream is achieved through:

• Sacrifice

• Risk-taking

• and hard work rather than by chance.

 Cont..
It provides :
 Freedom
 Equality
 Political freedom
 Rights
 Liberty
 Opportunity
 AMERICAN DREAM IN WINTER
DREAMS:
• 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.
• “Winter Dreams” illustrates how social class defines people’s lives, often with
unfortunate results
• Dexter Green, the story’s protagonist, is a fourteen-year-old caddie
• However, Dexter is determined to become one of the wealthy men for whom he
works at the Sherry Island Golf Course.
• These ambitions are dictated by his winter dreams
• These “dreams” to possess “glittering things and glittering people are a metaphor
for the American dream of economic success and social prestige.
 Cont..
• As Dexter attempts to work himself up the social ladder, he falls in love
with Judy Jones, a shallow and selfish, rich woman.
• But to Dexter, Judy represents the very idea of the American Dream
obtaining wealth and status.
• Dexter’s pursuit of Judy and essentially the American Dream
becomes an obsession.
• In the end, Dexter is forced to accept the realization that his “winter
dreams” are actually just empty wishes
• . By characterizing Judy as a superficial, materialistic woman, Fitzgerald
criticizes the destructive nature of american dream
 DEXTER AS A PERSON:
• Dexter's main goal in life is to make tons of money and
improve his social class.
• He dreams of actually playing golf with the rich men he
caddies for at the Sherry Island Golf Club.
• He's actually a middle-class kid, the son of the second-most
successful grocer in all of Black Bear.
• And when Dexter becomes infatuated with the beautiful
Judy Jones when he is just fourteen.
 DEXTER’S JOURNEY:
• Dexter has changed. We see this change about
midway through "Winter Dreams,“

• Dexter ditches his fiancée Irene for Judy Jones.

• His ambitions have made him a wrong person.

• When he leaves Irene behind, he feels some guilt.

 DEXTER’S LOVE FOR JUDY:

• The real change in Dexter's character is only

confirmed by the end of the story.
• When Dexter hears that Judy Jones has lost her
beauty and married some guy.
• . But Dexter doesn't start crying because of
Judy. He doesn’t care anymore.
 WHO IS JUDY?
• The daughter of the affluent Mortimer Jones.
Glowing with vitality, Judy is aloof, charming,
and irresistible to many men, including Dexter.
She is alluring, unattainable, and whimsical,
concerned only with the gratification of her
desires. Judy does not seem to be fully aware
of how manipulative she is toward the various
suitors who pursue her or if she is aware, she
doesn’t care.
 JUDY JONE’S TIMELINE AND
CHARACTER:
• Judy Jones is eleven when she first arrives at the
Sherry Island Golf Club to take golf lessons.
• Dexter Green spots her at the caddy house throwing
a tantrum at her nurse, Hilda..
• It seems she's just as cruel and self-absorbed as she
was as a child.
• There, Judy meets Dexter properly for the first time,
and she asks him to her house for dinner the next
night.
• They start an affair, but Judy never gives up her
other lovers.
 JUDY’S ATTITUDE:
• Well for one thing, Judy is horrible.
• She is selfish and spoiled-straight out of gossip
girl.
• She pays for all of the casual cruelty of her
youth by the end of the story. So in the end we
feel sorry for her (even though we still hate
her).
• She is also known as moody Judy.
• She is self absorbed .
 Cont..
• E.g. Because Judy never has to try for
anything, she doesn't understand real value.
She is perfectly happy to keep Dexter hanging
around for a bit, but he is always one of many
other lovers, whom she kicks to the curb
whenever she wants.
 JUDY WAS JUST A PRETTY FACE:
• Seven years after this disaster, Dexter hears
that she has gotten married: Judy Jones is now
Judy Simms.
• Her husband, Lud Simms, cheats on her
regularly and drinks too much.
• Judy also has children who she stays home to
look after.
• Her beauty has faded, and she has settled down
to an unhappy life.
 THEMES OF THE STORY:
• SOCIETY AND CLASS:
The obvious and visible class
differences between the very rich and middle
class are what drives Dexter to succeed at any
cost.
• LOVE:
Dexter strongly associates money with
love in “Winter Dreams.” He thinks that if he
has money, he can win the love of Judy Jones.
 Cont..
• AMBITION:
Dexter is not ambitious. Money is a
way to make the better life possible, but it’s
not a goal in itself.
• GENDER:
The characters in the story are
defined in relation to the story’s central male
figure,Dexter.
 Cont..
• MEMORY AND THE PAST:
Memory and the past are
everywhere in Winter Dreams.
THANKS!