How we cite our quotes: (Section.Paragraph)
Quote #1
The little girl who had done this was eleven – beautifully ugly as little girls are apt to be who are destined after a few years to be inexpressibly lovely and bring no end of misery to a great number of men. The spark, however, was perceptible. There was a general ungodliness in the way her lips twisted down at the corners when she smiled, and in the — Heaven help us! — in the almost passionate quality of her eyes. Vitality is born early in such women. It was utterly in evidence now, shining through her thin frame in a sort of glow. (1.11)
Here, we first meet Judy Jones, the lovely girl who is going to change Dexter Green's life forever. At this stage in the narrative, Judy is just a big ol' ball of potential: she is "destined after a few years" to be lovely. Now, she's kind of ugly, but she already has an "almost passionate quality" in her eyes. Fitzgerald is making two things clear about Judy: (1) her most important characteristic will be her physical beauty, and (2), beauty in women gives them huge power over men's hearts.
Quote #2
"Boy!"
Dexter stopped.
"Boy — "
Beyond question he was addressed. Not only that, but he was treated to that absurd smile, that preposterous smile – the memory of which at least a dozen men were to carry into middle age. (1.21-4)
In this early scene, Judy is eleven and Dexter is fourteen. But Judy still addresses Dexter as "Boy!," as if he is younger than she is. She is able to exert this power not only because she's rich, but also because she's a (soon-to-be-)beautiful girl. Fitzgerald's description of her "absurd smile" and the lasting impression it leaves on the men at the club foreshadows the crazy sway she'll have over men for the rest of the story. What is it with this girl?
Quote #3
As she took her stance for a short mashie shot, Dexter looked at her closely. She wore a blue gingham dress, rimmed at throat and shoulders with a white edging that accentuated her tan. The quality of exaggeration, of thinness, which had made her passionate eyes and down-turning mouth absurd at eleven, was gone now. She was arrestingly beautiful. The color in her cheeks was centered like the color in a picture – it was not a "high" color, but a sort of fluctuating and feverish warmth, so shaded that it seemed at any moment it would recede and disappear. This color and the mobility of her mouth gave a continual impression of flux, of intense life, of passionate vitality – balanced only partially by the sad luxury of her eyes. (2.16)
We can't help but notice that Fitzgerald's descriptions are always at their lushest in "Winter Dreams" when he is describing Judy Jones. She's not just any old hottie. Instead, her appearance is actually what gives the story a lot of its imagery. At the same time, there is this strange separation between what Judy looks like and what she is: she has a lovely exterior but a super bratty interior. Then again, perhaps it is precisely this confusing combination that Dexter finds so attractive?
Quote #4
Whatever Judy wanted, she went after with the full pressure of her charm. There was no divergence of method, no jockeying for position or premeditation of effects – there was a very little mental side to any of her affairs. She simply made men conscious to the highest degree of her physical loveliness. Dexter had no desire to change her. Her deficiencies were knit up with a passionate energy that transcended and justified them. (4.1)
Fitzgerald builds an interesting distinction between men like Dexter and women like Judy in this passage. Dexter has to jockey for position; he only achieves his ambitions through constant planning and self-scrutiny. Judy, on the other hand, can rely utterly on her own nature – her "physical loveliness" – to get what she wants. Judy is honest about who she is in a way that Dexter, literally, cannot afford to be. The difference between them is one of class, in part, but it is also one of gender. In the man's world that Fitzgerald sketches out at the Sherry Island Golf Club, it's only Judy's physical beauty that gets her any recognition.
Quote #5
"You're handsomer than you used to be," she said thoughtfully. "Dexter, you have the most rememberable eyes."
He could have laughed at this, but he did not laugh. It was the sort of thing that was said to sophomores. Yet it stabbed him. (4.43-4)
At several points in the story (1.11, 2.16) the narrator tells us that Judy has amazing eyes. Her eyes are one of her most attractive features. The fact that Judy finds Dexter's eyes so alluring seems to indicate that she does have some kind of special, personal desire for him. But Dexter thinks this is just another example of her insincerity. What do you think?
Quote #6
"I'm more beautiful than anybody else," she said brokenly, "why can't I be happy?" Her moist eyes tore at his stability – her mouth turned slowly downward with an exquisite sadness: "I'd like to marry you if you'll have me, Dexter. I suppose you think I'm not worth having, but I'll be so beautiful for you, Dexter." (4.61)
Man, even Judy's sadness is "exquisite" – this girl can't lose. Even now that Judy seems vulnerable in her tears, her emotion has a beautiful quality that makes it seem like a show or a performance.