The Winter Dream In F. Scott Fitzgerald's Winter Dreams

In F. Scott Fitzgerald 's story "Winter Dreams,” Dexter Green, the protagonist, falls in love with Judy Jones at first sight and decides to pursue her throughout the story. Dexter constantly strives to make Judy his wife but finally realizes it is impossible to possess her. After several years, Dexter hears news about Judy’s faded beauty and feels disillusioned. In the story, Judy is a perfect representation of his “winter dreams.” His “winter dreams” are his desire to pursue a rich life fulfilled by the “glittering things” such as wealth and status. When he realizes the vanity of Judy’s beauty, he also learns the hollow nature in his winter dreams. Therefore, the main conflict in "Winter Dreams" is Dexter 's internal conflict between pursuing his winter dreams and realizing the emptiness in his winter dreams.
The inciting incident that creates the conflict is Dexter’s first encounter with Judy Jones, when he sees in her the perfect embodiment of his winter dreams. At the beginning of the story, Dexter daydreams about being superior to the wealthy men he caddies for. Even as a young boy, he has the potential for ambition and aspiration for success and wealth: “He became a golf champion and defeated Mr. T. A. Hedrick in a marvelous match played a hundred times over the fairways of his

In the falling action and conclusion of the story, Dexter grieves for the loss of his winter dreams and accepts the vanity of his illusions: “Why, these things were no longer in the world! They had existed and they existed no longer” (27). And as a result of chasing his winter dreams, Dexter has become emotionally barren: “Even the grief he could have borne was left behind in the country of illusion, of youth, of richness of life, where his winter dreams had flourished” (27). Now Dexter is no longer the young, ambitious boy chasing his winter dreams. He has no choice but to understand and accept the fact that his winter dreams had in themselves the hollowness and