Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Winter Dreams, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Class Mobility and the American Dream
Gender and Ambition
Dreams, Happiness, and Reality
Time, Progress, and Repetition
Summary
Analysis
One day, seven years later, a business associate from Detroit, a man named Devlin, comes to visit Dexter. Devlin mentions that “the wife of one of his best friends,” Lud Simms, comes from Dexter’s town. Dexter acknowledges having known Judy, but is surprised to hear that Devlin feels sorry for her, due to her husband drinking and carousing while she “stays at home with her kids.” He is even more appalled to hear that Devlin thinks that Judy is too old for Simms and has lost her looks.
There is a cruel irony in Judy—one of the “glittering people”—meeting such a degrading fate. In Dexter’s imagination, Judy’s beauty and wealth were supposed to have protected her from vulnerability. At twenty-seven, it is absurd that Judy is too old for Lud Simms, but recognition of her age also makes Dexter aware of his growing older.
Themes
Literary Devices
The news causes Dexter to feel like rushing out and getting a train to Detroit. He feels disoriented by Devlin’s underwhelming response to Judy. Devlin remembers that Judy was “a pretty girl” when she first arrived in Detroit, while Dexter remembers her as “a great beauty.” He studies Devlin, wondering if there is some “insensitivity” or “private malice” in him that explains his assessment. Devlin, however, attributes the loss of Judy’s looks to the inevitable tendency of women’s beauty to fade, nothing more.
Dexter is overwhelmed by a romantic desire to rescue Judy, but also confused by how Devlin could view Judy, “a great beauty” in Dexter’s eyes, as ordinary. Devlin is attuned to the fact that people age—though, his sexism makes him think that this only applies to women—while Dexter’s illusion convinces him that Judy will always be as he remembered her.
Themes
Literary Devices
For the first time in his life, Dexter feels like getting drunk to rid himself of the dullness that overwhelms him. He lays down and watches the sun set over the New York skyline, realizing that his wealth had not rid him of the feeling of having nothing to lose. The news of Judy causes the loss of his winter dreams, or his youthful fantasies of grandeur. Suddenly, his memories of Sherry Island and summer evenings on Judy’s veranda fade from his mind. He realizes that he cannot recover the past, and he cannot retrieve what he felt when he was young.
The “dullness” that Dexter feels contrasts with the brightness (“glittering”) and warmth he had envisioned and felt in Judy’s presence. With Judy’s beauty gone, Dexter must confront that his pursuit of status has not brought him any happiness, either. The setting sun signals, not only the end of the day, but also the end of his dream. For the first time, he realizes that he cannot go back and that he will not re-live his past experiences with Judy.
Themes
Literary Devices
