Literary Devices in Winter Dreams
Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Setting
Land o' Country ClubsMost of the action in "Winter Dreams" takes place at the Sherry Island Golf Club. It's there that young Dexter first sees even younger Judy Jones; it's there that Dexter falls...
Narrator Point of View
The narrator of "Winter Dreams" talks about Dexter Green in the third person, so we know we're looking at a third-person narration here. But here's the kicker: the narrator focuses all of his descr...
Genre
Dexter Green starts "Winter Dreams" at age fourteen and ends it at thirty-two, so he clearly comes of age over the course of the story. But Dexter's coming-of-age is not a positive triumph over his...
Tone
Take a look at this passage, from Section 3, when Dexter finally nabs a date with Judy:During dinner [Judy] slipped into a moody depression which gave Dexter a feeling of uneasiness. Whatever petul...
Writing Style
"Winter Dreams" switches back and forth between beautiful imagery and relatively straightforward dialogue and description. For every brisk exchange we get between Dexter and his business associates...
What's Up With the Title?
You know the saying that in spring, "a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love"? Well, this is a story about a young man and his thoughts of love, but as the title tells us, it is certa...
What's Up With the Ending?
Throughout "Winter Dreams," we are under the impression that this is the story of Dexter Green's love for Judy Jones. But at the end of the story, once Dexter finds out that Judy has lost her charm...
Tough-o-Meter
F. Scott Fitzgerald writes clearly, with lots of cool images to make it easier to imagine the people and places he describes. But even if Fitzgerald's word choice often seems simple, he likes to us...
Plot Analysis
A Kid With a DreamAt the start of "Winter Dreams," Dexter Green is a fourteen-year-old Minnesotan kid. He spends every winter waiting for the sun to melt the snow on the Sherry Island Golf Course s...
Trivia
F. Scott Fitzgerald's mother came from an immigrant family that did really well in the grocery business. And when he was seventeen years old, Fitzgerald wound up going to Princeton. Sound like anyo...
Steaminess Rating
There are no actual descriptions of sex in this story, but the whole thing is pretty much about sexual attraction. It's Dexter's helpless physical attraction to Judy that makes everything happen in...
Allusions
"Chin-Chin" (2.27), Ivan Caryll musical, 1914"The Count of Luxembourg" (2.27), Franz Lehár operetta, 1911 "The Chocolate Soldier" (2.27), Oscar Straus operetta, 1908