Winter Dreams" the tension between democratic and aristocratic values in America

"Winter Dreams" depicts the struggles of a middle-class character who is attempting to prove himself 'worthy' of a woman of American, blue-blooded aristocracy. At the beginning of the story, the hero Dexter is acting as a caddy at a golf course where most of the patrons are of a far higher social class than the caddies. Dexter, a member of the middle class and the son of a grocer, is offended by the treatment he receives at the hands of a much younger girl and abruptly quits, in an attempt to preserve his dignity. This determination to seem like a member of the elite classes will remain with Dexter for the rest of his life. He is continually torn between the value of democracy and the unpretentiousness of his home and the sort of society he covets, which is...
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