Winter Dreams

Judy Jones’s distinctive frown-like smile resonates throughout “Winter Dreams.” Judy’s smile, ironically, evokes sadness; it suggests that she is all too aware of her fate and seeks to defer it for as long as possible by not committing to any man. In essence, the motif of Judy’s smile reflects the theme of time and loss.

Sigmund Freud described laughter as a means through which people release repressed emotions, such as sexual desire. Given that “Winter Dreams” explores Freudian concepts such as unconscious drives, it is no surprise that the motif of laughter conveys the lust Dexter subconsciously feels toward Judy when she is as young as 11. Although his attraction is not fully realized until Dexter meets Judy as a young adult, Dexter has felt sexual desire for Judy “since he was a proud, desirous little boy” (667). That Dexter’s mouth is “slightly ajar” when he “stare[s]” at Judy and that he “had not realized how young she was” suggest that Dexter lusts over Judy (663); he then releases a “a short abrupt laugh” that “startle[s] him” (663). Later in the same scene Dexter laughs several times “but each time restrain[s] the laugh before it reache[s] audibility” (663). Like the desire itself, this nervous laughter is involuntary and unacknowledged.