Because his last name not only suggests money but also the freshness of beauty and youth, it is no surprise that Dexter Green is characterized by his pursuit of “greener pastures.” Dexter aspires to upward social mobility and ultimately hopes to become a member of high society. Having grown up in a middle-class family, with a mother who was “Bohemian of the peasant class and […] talked broken English to the end of her days” and a father who owned the second-best grocery store in the town (666), Dexter recognizes the precariousness of his social position. He earns the respect of wealthy golf club patrons, attends an Ivy League school, learns the behaviors of the very rich, dresses in clothing made by the “best tailors in America” (666), and learns all he can to achieve success in the laundry business.

Despite Dexter’s aspirations to fit in with the old-monied elite, he feels “newer and stronger” than them (666), espousing a quintessentially American sensibility that values wealth gained through hard work over inherited riches. On the golf course, he feels superior to T. A. Hedrick, “who was a bore and not even a good golfer any more” (664). However, the story suggests that America does not in fact value “self-made men” as much as it claims to.