Name _______________________________________ Date _______ Block ______
“Winter Dreams” Study Guide
Activity 4: First Reading/Anticipation Guide
As we read, we will pause to pay close attention to elements of this story. Record your answers on
this anticipation guide.
Section 1- pp. 699-701
1. Motivation: What does the simile in the expression “poor as sin” suggest about the
characters’ motivations in this society?
2. Social influences of the period: Fitzgerald sketches three social classes in Black Bear,
Minnesota. What classes does he describe, and what are their lives like?
3. Drawing inferences about characters: What effect do the seasons have on Dexter’s mood?
3b. Note how these moods suggest he is sensitive, sentimental, and romantic. What do these
moods suggest will happen to his dreams in the spring?
4. Motivation: What do Dexter’s dreams suggest about is desires for the future?
5. Making inferences about characters: What does the phrase “white linen nurse” suggest
about Judy’s attitude toward her caretaker?
6. Making inferences about characters: What do you think Dexter is so captivated by Judy
Jones?
7. Making Judgments: Is it appropriate for Judy to call Dexter “Boy”? Why?
8. Irony: How is Fitzgerald being ironic at the top of 701 when the narrator states “Miss Jones
and her retinue now withdrew…” NOTE: retinue is a group of followers or servants
attending a person of rank.
9. Making inferences about characters: Why does Dexter quit his job?
Section II - pp. 701-704
10. Identifying pronoun antecedents: In the first paragraph of section II, what is the
antecedent of the pronoun they? Why is it important to link pronouns and their antecedents?
11. Motivation: What does the passage beginning “…But do not get the impression…” and
ending with “…he wanted the glittering things themselves...” suggest about Dexter’s motivation
for seeking “the glittering things”?
12. Theme: What does the passage “…and sometimes he ran up against the mysterious denials
and prohibitions in which life indulges. It is with one of those denials and not with his career as
a whole that this story deals” suggest Fitzgerald will address in this story?
13. Philosophical and social influences of the period: In some ways, Dexter’s life is a
Horatio Alger story. Alger (1832-1899) wrote more than one hundred books for boys, many of
them about newsboys or shoeshine boys who earned success and achieved the American
Dream through hard work, pluck, and virtue. Do you think Dexter is a good model of this ideal?
Why?
14. Making inferences about characters: What does Judy’s behavior suggest about her
character when she says, “Here I am! I’d have gone on the green except that I hit something.”?
15. Analyzing: On page 703, reread from “All she needs is to be…” to “…Turning those big
cow-eyes on every calf in town!” How do the men feel about Judy? Why doesn’t Dexter add his
opinion to the conversation?
16. Analyzing style: Reread the passage on page 703 which begins “Later in the afternoon…”
How does the style of this passage reflect Dexter’s feelings for Judy?
17. Imagery: Reread the passage on page 703 “The tune the piano was playing…” through
“…drowning out the hot tinkle of the piano in the drone of its spray.” How does Fitzgerald use
sound imagery to build up to the meeting between Dexter and Judy?
18. Motivation: On page 704, why does Judy leave the man waiting at her house?
19. Drawing inferences about characters: What inferences can you draw about Judy’s
character based on the way she swims?
20. Analyzing: In the final paragraph of section II the narrator states, “His heart turned over
like the flywheel of the boat, and, for the second time, her casual whim gave a new direction to
his life.” In what way is Dexter not really moving in a new direction?
Section III - pp. 704-706
21. Repetition: At the top of 704, what word does Fitzgerald repeat for emphasis? How does
this repetition hint at the story’s theme?
22. Motivation: Why does Dexter lie about his hometown?
23. Social and ethical influences of the period: What does Dexter mean when he says that
his career is “a matter of futures”?
24. Drawing inferences about characters: What does the kiss symbolize for Dexter?
Section IV - pp. 706-711
25. Motivation: In the first paragraph of this section, Fitzgerald says that Judy goes directly
after whatever she wants, but what exactly does she want?
26. Drawing inferences about characters: There are elements of Judy’s character that
Dexter does not like, yet he doesn’t want to change her. How do you explain his feelings? (end
of first paragraph)
27. Evaluating: Does Judy’s character seem realistic to you? Why? (paragraph 2)
28. Point of view: From what point of view is the description of Judy (page 707 “…she was
proof against charm…”) written? How does the description help express the story’s theme?
29. Motivation: Why do Dexter and all the other young men put up with Judy’s careless
behavior? (same as above through “…to nourish herself wholly from within…”
30. Speculating: What does the narrator mean when he says that Judy says “nothing”? (top of
2nd column p. 707)
31. Drawing inferences about characters: Look at the last paragraph beginning on page
707-708. Have Dexter’s dreams changed? Explain why or why not.
32. Motivation: What moves Dexter to become engaged to Irene?
33. Evaluating: Is Judy a worthy object of Dexter’s idealism?
34. Drawing inferences about characters: What causes the fluctuations in Dexter’s mood in
the paragraph beginning on page 708, “The Minnesota winter…” through “…and somewhere
she had broken it off…”? What do you think will be the result of his feelings?
35. Making judgments: Did Dexter make the right decision? Why?
36. Symbol: Why is Judy pictured in gold? “…Judy Jones, a slender enameled doll in cloth of
gold: gold in a band at her head, gold in two slipper points at her dress’s hem,” (p. 709).
37. Breaking down difficult text: What is the narrator saying about Judy’s character in the
description of her entering “so many cars”?
38. Motivation: Why does Dexter agree to go for a ride with Judy if, as he says, “put her
behind him”? (1st paragraph on page 710)
39. Drawing inferences about characters: Why does Dexter wonder if Judy knows about
Irene?
40. Motivation: Why does Judy make a renewed play for Dexter? (page 711 “…Of course…”
through “Irene Scheerer a violent rush…”)
41. Irony: What is ironic about the fact that Dexter thinks of Judy as “his own”?
42. Motivation: Why does Dexter accept Judy’s invitation?
Section V - pp. 711-712
43. Analyzing: Does the narrator sympathize with Dexter or think that he is a fool for falling
for Judy? Is Dexter “hard-minded” and “strong”? Why or why not?
44. Drawing inferences about characters: Biographer Matthew J. Bruccoli writes:
“Fitzgerald developed a new American figure: the determined girl-woman. Not the cartoon
flapper, but the warm, courageous, attractive, and chastely independent young woman
competing at life and love for the highest stakes- her future.” Does Judy fit this description?
Section VI - pp. 712-713
45. Irony: What is ironic about Devlin’s comment? “’So you’re from the Middle West,’ said the
man Devlin with careless curiosity. ‘That’s funny- I thought men like you were probably born
and raised on Wall Street.”
46. Motivation: Why does Dexter want to take a train to Detroit?
47. Drawing references about characters: Reread the section from “Look here…” to “She has
nice eyes…” (p. 713). How has Judy changed? What brought about these changes in Judy? Are
they believable?
48. Symbol: In the passage, “…Devlin went, he lay down on his lounge and looked out the
window at the New York skyline into which the sun was sinking in dull lovely shades of pink
and gold” (p. 713), what does the sunset represent?
49. Analyzing: In the conclusion of The Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway describes the dream that
motivated Gatsby: “Gatsby believed in the… future that year by year recedes before us. It
eluded us then, but that’s no matter- tomorrow we’ll run faster, stretch out our arms farther…”
Would Dexter agree with Gatsby? Why or why not? (Look at the passage “For he had gone
away…” through “withstands all time.”)
50. Analyzing Theme: Think about Dexter’s romantic dream as a symbol for the American
dream. What possible themes for the story can you infer from Dexter’s words?
Activity 5: Considering the Structure of the Text
Compare/Contrast: Dexter’s Dream vs. Reality
Activity: Fill in the comparison-contrast chart showing aspects of Dexter’s dream and of
his reality. Include at LEAST ONE of each of the following: actions, images, events, and
quotations from the story. Explain your choices at the bottom of this page.
Dexter’s Dream
Dexter’s Reality
Explanation of your findings:
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