Ramirez 1

Dominic Ramirez
Storer
English 3H, Block 4
11/26/19
Socratic Circle Reflection on Winter Dreams
We talked about Winter Dreams. We discussed if social class and money are the same;
whether the quest for money permeates every aspect of our lives; and the trueness of Dexter and
Judy’s love. I argued that generally money and social status are the same. We gave a lot of
differing opinions, especially about the trueness of Dexter and Judy’s love. People seldom gave
similar opinions, rather I think that my group built really well off of each others points by asking
each other questions about their ideas, ultimately helping us to get deeper into the text.
Specifically, when people were agreeing that Judy only wanted Dexter’s money, I countered by
saying that she only wanted happiness with a quote, but Carlos followed up with his own opinion
as well.
I think I prepared fairly well because I contributed more than once and when I did speak,
my points were not as poorly put as last time, although they could still use more preparation. I
countered Rodrigo’s idea that Judy only wanted Dexter’s money, saying that she actually wanted
happiness which is more of a love than greed. I quoted Judy saying, “I’m more beautiful than
anyone else” (767). Judy sought her happiness from Dexter which although may be viewed as
selfish, it is a kind of love truer than the greedy form of love that others were trying to argue that
Judy felt. I think I participated well enough because I disagreed anytime I felt strongly about an
issue and I was able to give my points well enough so that it was understandable. I might want to
have multiple quotes for each argument because I found that as we were talking some of the
quotes I had seemed kind of weak and I didn’t want to use them.
Fitzgerald tries to impart the lesson that chasing the luxuries and pleasures of the
bourgeoisie cannot bring one true happiness and satisfaction
Fitzgerald tries to impart that chasing one’s winter dreams cannot bring true satisfaction
that is found in authentic relationships and real success. During Dexter’s time as a caddy, his
dream was to reach the same level of respect and awe that he found in the rich men he caddied
for. However, upon reaching this goal and becoming as affluent and talented as those men if not
more so, Dexter finds himself sitting in ‘a mood of intense appreciation’ on the raft. Yet minutes
later, after meeting Judy Jones and falling in love, he claims that ‘her casual whim gave a new
direction to his life.” Clearly, Dexter was not truly satisfied with himself to now be chasing after
a girl who embodied everything attractive about high class society, whom he had met minutes
ago. Soon though, Dexter once again finds himself lost after giving up his engagement for a fling
with Judy for only a night. His life had been once again changed directions after realizing the
futility of the elegance he had been chasing all these years, finally giving up on chasing Judy.
Even years later when hearing that Judy had lost all her beauty and elegance, Dexter was still
realizing that the winter dreams and ‘attractiveness’ of chasing after them was meaningless,
saying “They had existed and they existed no longer.” Throughout his life, Dexter chased after
his winter dreams, which was to acquire everything elegant and shining of the upper class.
This short story reminded me of an experience I had going into high school. Growing up
with a twin was always very competitive, ranging from grades to video games, which ultimately
 Ramirez 2

translated into how I operated through all of elementary and middle school, trying to be the best.
I think that this competition, while it did help me stay on top of my grades and other things, set
me up for disappointment. Although it was very shy and somewhat frightened going into
freshman year, I still kept a certain confidence that came with the high grades and proficiency in
video games compared to Ben. Although I still kept those high grades among other things, I
quickly learned how futile this competition was in high school because there were so many other
amazing people with many different ranges of talents that I could never match. The notion of
victory I felt in beating others was gone, replaced by the reality that those victories are
meaningless in the face of all the other kinds of talents that I might lack. Although I remained
confident in my academics and sports, I stopped trying to seek these victories of superiority over
others, especially Ben. Instead, I searched for true fulfillment in finding good friends and being a
morally strong person, which can’t be compared to anything.