“Winter Dreams”: F. Scott Fitzgerald

1. “Winter Dreams”: F. Scott Fitzgerald • First published in 1922 • Provides a glimpse of the wealthy in the U.S. around the time of World War I. • The Minnesota setting is drawn from Fitzgerald’s adolescence and early adulthood among the country-club set of St. Paul.

2. Winter Dreams • The work reflects the changing face of America in the 1920s. • His characters pursue the American dream of wealth and social status. • So Judy Jones represents wealth and upbringing to Dexter. • Dexter, like many Americans, seems to define social class in terms of money.

3. “Winter Dreams” • Autoportrait (1925, oil on wood) • Tamara de Lempicka • Sleek lines, rakish angles reflect Art Deco style popular in mid-1920s Paris. • Depicts elegance and assurance many people felt prior to stock market crash of 1929. • Facial expression: calm, composed mouth and lidded, languid eyes reflect a sense of coolness and contentment. • She seems self-assured and somewhat bored: much like Judy Jones in “Winter Dreams.”

4. “Winter Dreams” Key Questions: Dexter seems to have everything he needs. So what makes him so sad at the end? He has lost his dreams and nothing left to strive for. The Judy he once loved no longer exists. The things she represented – beauty, wealth, social status, romance, excitement – meant more to him than her actual being. He realizes now that he has lost his capacity to dream. He grieves for the loss of the capacity to grieve.

5. “Winter Dreams” Explain the role that dreams played in Dexter’s life and the way that the loss of these dreams changed him. Dexter’s dreams are unattainable illusions. Without dreams to strive for, Dexter feels empty and doesn’t care about life. He was happier while he naively believed in false ideals and strove for them. He can never achieve the same fullness of life he felt while he believed in ideals or his “winter dreams.”