Written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1934, Tender is the Night is a story about human decadence and the degeneration of love and marriage due to excess. Fitzgerald wrote his symbolic novel during the 1920s, the “Jazz Age” before the great depression- the time period that clearly indicated how living excessively and recklessly has serious and destructive consequences. The novel exemplifies some of the values and vices that are still present in society today. Fitzgerald uses sensuous characterization, connotative symbolism, and vivid detail to emphasize that excess leads to downfall.
Fitzgerald creates detailed, dynamic, and believable characters in Tender is the Night such as the protagonists Dick Diver, Nicole Diver, and Rosemary Hoyt. Dick Diver is rich, charismatic, popular, and a brilliant psychiatrist, but throughout the novel, he transforms into the shadow of the man he used to be and loses everything. In book 2, which takes place before the events of book 1, renowned psychiatrist Dick Diver becomes the doctor of rich heiress Nicole Warren, who suffers from the mental disorder schizophrenia due to her father’s incestuous behavior with her during childhood. In book 1, which takes place when Dick and Nicole are married, the world of the Divers is a perfect one. Their marriage is stable, but this “flawless” life decays over time. Dick Diver’s excessive pursuit of beauty as soon as he sees the young and pretty Rosemary foreshadows the Diver’s decay of marriage. In the beginning of the novel Dick entertains people and brings them happiness by oftentimes throwing ravishing parties: “So long as they subscribed to it completely, their happiness was his preoccupation” (Fitzgerald 41). Because of his handsome appearance and attractive n...
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" The Southern Literary Journal 17.2 (Spring 1985): 54-66. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed.
Fitzgerald uses his character’s immoral behaviors to show how individuals of the Lost Generation are trying to fill the void that they have after World War I. The character’s loss of morals are a result of their carelessness and
A soft breeze lifts off the Sound and brushes Nick Carraway’s face as he emerges from the shadows into the moonlight. His eyes first gaze across the bay to the house of Tom and Daisy where Nick sees past the walls to people who “...smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back to their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together...” (Fitzgerald: 187- 188). Nick’s head then turns to his side where he views Gatsby’ s mansion. His heart swells for the man who was unable to let go of the past, and move toward his future. With the two houses juxtaposed in his mind’s eye, Nick ponders his experiences in the East, and enters the car to take him home with a new perspective on life. Nick’s maturity becomes evident as his perspective of society becomes more realistic as a result of his observing the consequences which occur in unhealthy relationships.
Bruccoli, Matthew J. and Judith S. Baughman. Reader's Companion to F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tender Is the Night.
Dick Diver's love for his wife, Nicole, in F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tender is the Night, is based purely on his need to assert control and act as care taker to her due to her illness. He assumes this role in order to feel validation for his own lack of achievement in his professional life. The only true success he can be credited is Nicole's 'cure,' achieved through his devotion and care; thus he continually tries to replicate this previous success in his relationships to other young girls. He looks to be a source of caring and stability just as he had been for Nicole, relying on him for caring and protection from her illness.
164-69. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter. Vol. 341. Detroit: Gale, 2013.Artemis Literary Sources. Web. 5 May 2014.
...us 75.1 (Jan. 1991): 150-159. Rpt. in Poetry Criticism. Ed. Lawrence J. Trudeau. Vol. 58. Detroit: Gale, 2005. Literature Resource Center. Web. 25 Feb. 2011.
Certain authors, including F. Scott Fitzgerald, wanted to reflect the horrors that the world had experienced not a decade ago. In 1914, one of the most destructive and pointless wars in history plagued the world: World War I. This war destroyed a whole generation of young men, something one would refer to as the “Lost Generation”. Modernism was a time that allowed the barbarity of the war to simmer down and eventually, disappear altogether. One such author that thrived in this period was F. Scott Fitzgerald, a young poet and author who considered himself the best of his time. One could say that this self-absorption was what fueled his drive to be the most famous modernist the world had seen. As The New Yorker staff writer Susan Orlean mentions in her literary summary of Fitzgerald’s works, “I didn’t know till fifteen that there was anyone in the world except me, and it cost me plenty” (Orlean xi). One of the key factors that influenced and shaped Fitzgerald’s writing was World War I, with one of his most famous novels, This Side Of Paradise, being published directly after the war in 1920. Yet his most famous writing was the book, The Great Gatsby, a novel about striving to achieve the American dream, except finding out when succeeding that this dream was not a desire at all. Fitzgerald himself lived a life full of partying and traveling the world. According to the Norton Anthology of American Literature, “In the 1920’s and 1930’s F. Scott Fitzgerald was equally equally famous as a writer and as a celebrity author whose lifestyle seemed to symbolize the two decades; in the 1920’s he stood for all-night partying, drinking, and the pursuit of pleasure while in the 1930’s he stood for the gloomy aftermath of excess” (Baym 2124). A fur...
Reading is an experience of art; without readers’ interaction, the meaning of any literary work is insufficient. “[Norman] Holland believes that we react to literary texts with the same psychological responses we bring to our daily life....That is, in various ways we unconsciously recreate in the text the world that exists in our mind.” (Tyson, 182) By telling a story that centers on the conflicts between two wealth young females whose personalities are distinctly different in the jazz age, Fitzgerald leads us on a journey of physical, and especially psychological transition of the protagonists through an omniscient narration. For female individuals, a tale emphasis on the youth,
Fitzgerald's book at first overwhelms the reader with poetic descriptions of human feelings, of landscapes, buildings and colors. Everything seems to have a symbolic meaning, but it seems to be so strong that no one really tries to look what's happening behind those beautiful words. If you dig deeper you will discover that hidden beneath those near-lyrics are blatancies, at best.
Stern, Milton R., ed. Critical Essays on F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tender Is the Night. Boston: Hall, 1986.
This passage shows Nick making his way through New York at night, seeing the sights and narrating the way this external stimuli makes him feel. It exemplifies the manner in which Nick interacts with the world around him, often as an observer, rather than participant, and is integral to the development of his character. Fitzgerald utilizes vivid imagery throughout the paragraph, paired with a strong narrative regarding Nick’s experience in New York; furthermore provoking the audience to ponder a theme central to the novel.
Tender is the night deals with many different themes such as Acting, Perversion and Paternity, but this essay is focused on Excess and Destruction, the most interesting one for it has a close connection with the Jazz Age or the Great Depression that the country was going through at the time the novel was written. This age was a time of excesses for the American people as it followed the World War II. In order to soften the suffering and misery that the war leaves in a country, the Americans found the way of doing it. They made emphasis on the quest for pleasure and enjoyment, but this way of life brought serious consequences to them and these negative results are clearly seen on the characters of the novel. They lead a life full of excesses such as heavy drinking or the pursue of beauty and youth that not only bring them to personal destruction but also their behaviours affect the people around them and in most of the cases the people they love. (Lazyan, M., 2008:2)
In writing this book, commonly refered to as the “Great American Novel”, F. Scott Fitzgerald achieved in showing future generations what the early twenties were like, and the kinds of people that lived then. He did this in a beautifully written novel with in-depth characters, a captivating plot, and a wonderful sense of the time period.
In America and France, the1920’s was a time of dramatic change socially and politically, but men and women still held their traditional roles. Money and fortune began to play a large role in determining one’s happiness. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Tender is the Night, money was represented by power, freedom, and safety. Characters in this novel that have “money” can live however they please without being aware of consequences. Money in the end cannot buy love or happiness, and if it does, it will be short lived.