Discussion Topic

Point of View in "Winter Dreams" and Its Impact

Summary:

F. Scott Fitzgerald's "Winter Dreams" employs a third-person omniscient point of view, with the narrator actively engaging with readers by offering opinions and interpretations of events. This narrative style influences the reader's perception by highlighting the themes of unattainable dreams and desires. The limited access to Judy's character emphasizes her symbolic role as Dexter's elusive "winter dream," suggesting that such dreams remain distant and unattainable. This point of view enhances the story's thematic depth and emotional impact.

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What is the point of view in F. Scott Fitzgerald's "Winter Dreams"?

While the narration in "Winter Dreams" is a standard third-person omniscient point-of-view, an unusual aspect is the way the narrator takes an active role in the telling, rather than the normal passive role. Instead of simply relating the events as they unfold, the unseen narrator comments and offers opinions, allowing the reader to see both the actual events and one possible opinionated view. It is not as specific as a frame-story technique, or a story told to the narrator by someone else, and seeks to subtly influence the reader's opinion.

This story is not his biography, remember, although things creep into it which have nothing to do with those dreams he had when he was young. We are almost done with them and with him now. There is only one more incident to be related here, and it happens seven years farther on.
(Fitzgerald, "Winter Dreams," sc.edu)

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direct addressing the reader shows the narrator's interest and deeper understanding of the characters and their intentions; unlike, for example, "A Rose for Emily," there is little indication that the narrator plays a directly active role in the story itself, but instead acts as an interpreter. The narrator remembers important details for the reader, allowing the flow of the story to remain unbroken, and eliminating the need to "flip back" and see what came before. 

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How does the point of view affect our perception of "Winter Dreams"?

This is a very clever question as you have recognised the way that the point of view is intrinsically related to the theme of the short story. The point of view of course is a very important decision that every author has to make, and it is clear that Fitzgerald adopts a third person omniscient point of view in this story. He does rarely give us access to Judy's character, as he does in the following example:

She was not a girl who could be "won" in the kinetic sense--she was proof against cleverness, she was proof against charm; if any of these assailed her too strongly she would immediately resolve the affair to a physical basis, and under the magic of her physical splendour the strong as well as the brilliant played her game and not their own. She was entertained only by the gratification of her desires and by the direct exercise of her own charm. Perhaps from so much youthful love, so many youthful lovers, she had come, in self-defence, to nourish herself wholly from within.

Whilst this does give us some access to Judy's character, thoughts and motivations, the fact that it is written from the third person omniscient point of view emphasises the inaccessibility of Judy. Judy is of course symbolic of Dexter's "winter dreams," and therefore this careful decision of point of view hints rather strongly that dreams by their very nature remain distant, aloof, tantalising but never by their very nature come true.

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