Winter Dreams

Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1922

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Story Analysis

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Important Quotes

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Literary Devices

Nonlinear Narrative and Flashback

The plot of “Winter Dreams” unfolds in only partially linear order. After summing up the sequence of events through which Dexter achieves success and moves to New York, Fitzgerald returns to and highlights the moment when Dexter was 23 and just beginning his success story; from this flashback onward, the story proceeds in linear (though episodic) fashion. The narrative structure implies that financial success itself is not the most important part of the story—rather, the dreams and the process of becoming successful matter most. It is during the process that Dexter’s dreams are strongest. Once a person fulfills their dreams, the dreams themselves fade—not because they are no longer necessary but because “success” reveals the hollowness of those dreams from the start.

Foreshadowing

Fitzgerald uses foreshadowing in “Winter Dreams” in a variety of ways. Most notably, the description of Judy when Dexter first beholds her foreshadows her fate of becoming “dull” and ordinary: “The color in her cheeks was centered like the color in a picture—it was not a ‘high’ color, but a sort of fluctuating and feverish warmth, so shaded that it seemed at any moment it would recede and disappear” (665). By extension, the image also foreshadows the death of Dexter’s winter dreams. As mentioned earlier, the “neurasthenic cow,” paired with the description of Judy having “cow eyes,” foreshadows Judy’s fate of becoming a wife and mother who, like cattle, is “owned” and mistreated.

Paradox and Oxymoron

In weaving paradox (a self-contradicting idea) and oxymoron (a self-contradicting phrase) throughout the work, Fitzgerald conveys the paradox of the American dream, which is both sublime and hollow. Judy brings Dexter both “ecstatic happiness and intolerable agony” (668). The “sad luxury” of Judy’s eyes, the absurdity of Judy’s smile, and that Judy “laughed sadly—without sadness” underscore the insidious contradictions of Dexter’s dream of marrying Judy (670). Not only is Dexter’s dream superficial in being based solely on Judy’s beauty and his sexual desire for her, but the extent to which he idealizes her makes disappointment inevitable.

Imagery

Throughout the work, Fitzgerald uses imagery to juxtapose dreams and reality, summer and winter, glitter and dullness, and warmth and coldness. This use of imagery underscores what comprises Dexter’s winter dreams. Fitzgerald describes expensive possessions as “glittering things” and wealthy people as “glittering people” (664). When Dexter reminisces about prior summers, Fitzgerald presents the image of “a fish jumping and a star shining and lights all around the lake […] gleaming” (665). In this luminous setting, Dexter hears music and feels “intense appreciation” as well as the sense that “everything about him [is] radiating a brightness and a glamour he might never know again” (665). Light, glamor, and brightness thus characterize Dexter’s winter dreams. Likewise, Judy is twice described as having a “glow”—once as a girl and once as a young woman. The “glow” connects the two moments, which both cause Dexter to make rash decisions—first, to quit his job as a caddy, and next, to cheat on his fiancée and leave her for Judy.

Dullness, on the other hand, signifies the impermanence of youth, beauty, and life, as well as the inevitable onset of winter. “Dullness” settles upon Dexter when he finds that Judy’s beauty has faded and that she is no longer desired. The sun “sinking in dull lovely shades of pink and gold” signals the moment before dark and symbolizes the death of Dexter’s dreams (672). When Dexter watches the sun set in New York, he looks west, toward Minnesota, watching the last hint of “pink and gold” loveliness—his memories of Judy—fade into black.