# Dexter Green — Short Fiction character guide

> Dexter Green in Short Fiction by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** Dexter, whither Dexter

**First appearance:** 0168-i

## Snapshot

A caddy who dreams past the golf course, Dexter Green builds a fortune to reach a girl who belongs to a world that will never quite let him in.

## Who they are

Dexter starts as a boy on the links and ends as a man with laundries and a house in the city, all of it aimed at a single golden girl. His ambition is disciplined, almost cold, yet it keeps collapsing into the same impossible longing. He is Fitzgerald's great study of the self-made man who discovers that wealth can buy proximity but never the thing he actually wanted.

## Relationships

### [Judy Jones](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/characters/judy_jones)

_romantic_

Dexter is obsessively in love with the beautiful but capricious Judy, leading to a tumultuous and ultimately unfulfilling romantic dynamic.

### [Judy Jones](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/characters/judy_jones)

_romantic_

Dexter is obsessively in love with the beautiful but capricious Judy, leading to a tumultuous and ultimately unfulfilling romantic dynamic.

### [Judy Jones](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/characters/judy_jones)

_romantic_

Dexter is obsessively in love with the beautiful but capricious Judy, leading to a tumultuous and ultimately unfulfilling romantic dynamic.

## In the story

### [Winter Dreams](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/chapters/winter-dreams)

The protagonist, a young man from a modest background who becomes infatuated with Judy Jones and pursues wealth and status.

### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/chapters/i)

A fourteen-year-old caddy from Black Bear Village who quits caddying after being emotionally struck by Judy Jones.

### [Winter Dreams](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/chapters/ii)

The protagonist, now a successful laundry entrepreneur, reflects on his past and encounters Judy Jones.

### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/chapters/iii)

Dines with Judy Jones, reflects on his social climbing and his mother's peasant Bohemian origins, and confesses his wealth.

### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/chapters/iv)

Dexter surrenders to Judy's charm, experiences ecstasy and agony, and later becomes engaged to Irene Scheerer before being drawn back to Judy.

### [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/chapters/v)

Reflects on his past with Judy Jones and his decision to join the war effort.

### [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/chapters/vi)

Now thirty-two, successful in New York, he learns of Judy Jones's faded beauty and feels the loss of his winter dreams.

### [Magnetism](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/chapters/magnetism)

Involved in the romantic tensions, reflecting on past and present attractions.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/characters/dexter_green
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/characters