What Dexter Green Finds in Winter Dreams - Essay Example

He mulls through these reflections, calling them his winter dreams, they make "him clinch his hands and tremble and repeat idiotic sentences to himself, and make brisk abrupt gestures of command to imaginary audiences and armies" (PG #). These musing are magical and the narrator states they cause Dexter to behave in ways that are contrary to his good emotional health, "he was unconsciously dictated to by his winter dreamsthe quality and seasonability of these winter dreams varied but the stuff of them remained" (PG #).

When Dexter has the advantageous opportunity to attend an expensive East coast university, he refuses. While other young men of his age are rehearing their new skills, Dexter borrows against his future (with his education and confidence), buys a partnership, and puts his skills to good use. He is thought of as a go-getter and he maximizes this reputation. He does not just want to be rich or associate with the wealthy, but " wanted the glittering things themselves" (PG #). His winter dreams propelled him in an unconscious direction, but they also hide his latent desires.

While anonymously visiting his past (by being an invited guest rather than an employee at the golf course), several years later, Dexter confronts the visual embodiment of his lost innocence-Judy Jones. This meeting refreshes his memory and he is reminded of their first encounter, when she threw a conniption fit at the lack of a caddy for her golf outing. She is forceful and yells at her nurse, then tries to assault her. At first Dexter thinks this is amusing and then he is astounded by her manipulating attitude.

One minute she is hostile, the next minute she is smiling and docile. Does she behave that way because she comes from a wealthy family or because she is spoiled Dexter is fascinated and repulsed at the same time by Judy's exhibition. He turns down an arrangement with her father to caddy exclusively for him, since he decided after meeting Judy to quit caddying, "The enormity of his decision frightened himBut he had received a strong emotional shock, and his perturbation required a violent and immediate outlet" (PG #).

During the second meeting, Judy is just as manipulative, charming, and rude as she was in her younger state.Judy opens their second meeting with a confession-men worship her and she uses them. She asks Dexter to take her away, and he does, but falls into her trap and his life takes on a new direction because of this encounter with Judy. They casually date each other, and during their first date, Judy admits that she does not like surprises from her suitors. She informs Dexter that she jilted a man because he did not admit he was not wealthy, "But in this case, I hadn't thought of him that way [being poor], and my interest in him wasn't strong enough to survive the shock" (PG #).

Do we believe that she rejected him because he was poor, or because she no longer wanted him after he expressed his desire for her She bluntly asks Dexter about the state of his finances, so we are not sure about her motives. Judy represents excitement, mystery, and appears to hold nothing back in her relationships. So Dexter does not immediately know that his innocence is lost, but he does know that "It did not take him many hours to decide that he had wanted