Similarities Between Dick Diver and Abe North in Tender is the Night

Similarities Between Dick Diver and Abe North in Tender is the Night

Dick Diver and Abe North are characters in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, Tender is the Night. As presented in the beginning of the novel, Dick Diver and Abe North did not seem to have much in common. As the character of Dick Diver developed, the reader found the characters to be parallel to each other. There were numerous unexpected similarities as the novel progressed. The presentation of Abe North's character “served as a preview to the fate of Dick Diver”(Stern, 117). The characters' deterioration, relationships with their wives, and their effects on the other characters were some of the main similarities between Dick Diver and Abe North.

At the start of the novel the characters of Dick Diver and Abe North seemed to contrast. Dick was hospitable and admired by many. Meanwhile, Abe had already deteriorated in character. The first thing that was said about Abe was negative. When Abe first appeared Mrs. McKisco conveyed her opinion of him to Rosemary, "Well, he's a rotten musician." (Fitzgerald, 8). This statement was related to the lack of progress in Abe's profession as clarified by Brady, "he was a musician who after a brilliant and precocious start had composed nothing for seven years." (Fitzgerald, 33). Proceeding from these descriptions, Abe character was reduced to a pitiful drunkard. However, Abe was not always the "loser" as Nicole pointed out, "Abe used to be so nice... So nice. Long ago-when Dick and I were first married. If only you had known him then." (Fitzgerald, 99).

At this point of the novel it seems that Dick has control of his life in comparison to Abe North. Yet, Dick's own career was stagnant. Unlike Abe howe...

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...gradation were parallel. A comment made by Nicole in the beginning of the novel now appears to be a forecast on the fate of Dick and Abe, "So many smart men go to pieces nowadays." (Fitzgerald, 99).

Works Cited and Consulted:

Bruccoli, Matthew J. The Composition of Tender Is the Night. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1963.

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. Tender is the Night. New York: Collier Books. 1982.

Grenberg, Bruce L. "Fitzgerald's 'Figured Curtain': Personality and History in Tender Is the Night." In Critical Essays on F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tender Is the Night, ed. Milton R. Stern. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1986.

LaHood, Marvin J., ed. Tender Is the Night: Essays in Criticism. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1969.

Stern, Milton R., ed. Critical Essays on F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tender Is the Night. Boston: Hall, 1986.