“Winter Dreams” explores the aspirations of Dexter Green. Analyze this character and state whether he is dynamic or static. Cite textual evidence to support your answer. ANSWER:
In Fitzgerald’s “Winter Dreams,” Dexter Green wants to be rich and successful, a dream he’s had since he was a 14-year-old caddie at a high-society golf club. The autumn and winter seasons would heighten his dreams, and his imagination always seemed to take flight:

October filled him with hope which November raised to a sort of ecstatic triumph.

Dexter’s character is dynamic because he undergoes several changes across the course of the story. He quits his job as a caddie because he wants to pursue his “winter dreams,” and he goes to college to start his own venture, which grows into a flourishing business:

He made money. It was rather amazing. After college he went to the city from which Black Bear Lake draws its wealthy patrons. When he was only twenty-three and had been there not quite two years, there were already people who liked to say: "Now there's a boy."

He achieves much success and is quite content with his life until he meets and falls in love with Judy Jones. Dexter experiences various emotions during his association with Judy. He is filled with joy when he loves her and believes she loves him in return, but his heart plummets into sorrow when Judy refuses to marry him:

Succeeding Dexter's first exhilaration came restlessness and dissatisfaction. The helpless ecstasy of losing himself in her was opiate rather than tonic.

When Dexter becomes disillusioned with love, he no longer feels strong emotions, a drastic change from his earlier openness to feelings:

Dexter was at bottom hard-minded.
He was beyond any revulsion or any amusement.