While I wouldn’t say this photo is a great representation of the central concept of Tender is the Night, it certainly reminded me of the novel. If you imagine the bride and man on the far left as Nicole and Dick, the woman on the far right as Rosemary, and the man in the middle as Collins Clay, it almost makes sense (except Rosemary would be holding hands with Dick, not Nicole). Something that struck me in this novel was how many times the main characters seemed to have affairs, even small ones of simply a kiss with another woman.
Quote:
“‘Well, upstairs I came upon a scene, my dears-’
Shaking her head cryptically she broke off just in time, for Tommy arose and addressed her politely but sharply:
‘It’s inadvisable to comment on what goes on in this house’” (36).
In this passage, Violet McKisco comes downstairs to rejoin the party after witnessing a scene in the upstairs bathroom of the Diver’s house. She is about to spill the gossip when Tommy Barban interrupts and advises her to keep quiet.
I believe this quote is a good selection to sum up the book because it eludes to Nicole’s mental condition (which is a large basis of the diver’s marriage, and therefore a great contributor to the importance of the novel), encases the McKisco’s gossiping tendencies (and therefore the prissy, high profile life the Divers lived while in Paris), and showed Tommy’s assertiveness in defending Nicole’s honor (his character is absent for a great portion of the novel, but returns at the end, “saving” Nicole).
Connections:
One connection I could make between Tender is the Night and the world in general is Nicole’s character. She was born into a rich family. Her mother died when she was still rather young and her father took advantage of her sexually. Nicole’s mental state deteriorated. She had a fear of men and frequent psychotic episodes. She was checked into a mental hospital and her father was sent away, she met Dick, and her state grew steadily better. Nicole then went on to marry Dick who, as a psychologist and her husband, took care of her for a long time.
I could compare Nicole’s situation to many people, but as a general, I could compare her to anyone who had abusive parents. There are so many girls in the world whose mother’s have died and their fathers, as a result, release their sexual needs upon their daughter. So many girls have been sexually abused and have PTSD as a result, some too afraid of men to function properly in society, some who can overcome their past.
I can also connect Tender is the Night to another of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s books, The Great Gatsby. Obviously the writing style is very similar because it was written by the same author, but the basic elements that contribute to each novel on the whole reflect similarities. For starters, they both center on characters who partake in rich, crazy parties. The majority of Gatsby surrounds Gatsby’s nightly parties. The first portion of Tender includes many strange and random parties in which the whole group partakes. Another connection of the two novels is that in Gatsby, Gatsby is portrayed as mysterious man with a hidden, unsolvable past for most of the novel. In Tender, the Divers have a secret about Nicole that is hinted at the beginning of the novel but only revealed toward the end.
Finally, I can connect this novel to life in general, especially many negative aspects. It sounds cheesy, but think about it. There is romance, secret desires, betrayal, mental disorders, and the growth or change of characters. So many elements of life wrapped into one story. There was romance between Dick and Nicole, Dick and Rosemary, Rosemary and Collins, Tommy and Nicole. There were the affairs (betrayal and secret desires) between Dick and Rosemary, Dick and a couple of other unimportant women, and Nicole with Tommy. There was Nicole’s mental instability. Lastly, there was the great change of Dick’s character—he began as a man loved by all, and throughout the story, his character morphed to become an alcoholic who all disrespected. In life, all of these things happen, to the best and worst of people. Maybe not all at once, but a few are inevitable. People are changing every day, growing into better people or shrinking into worse. Humans have intimate desires they wish to pursue with those whom they shouldn’t. There are hospitals in the world dedicated to the recovery of those with mental disorders or who’ve been through traumatic ordeals. This novel portrayed these life themes rather well.
Questions:
1. How many people loved Nicole (besides Dick, there was also Abe and Tommy, but it seemed like there was just so many people and so much controversial and mixed feelings about the Divers on the whole)?
2. Dick loved Nicole, but cheated on her a lot. Is it fair to think of Dick as a scoundrel (or a perv, especially considering how most of them were young women), or was that just how things were back in those days?
3. Why does it seem like people fell in love at first sight so often in novels from this time period? Was that how the romantic culture was, or is it just coincidence?
4. Is Fitzgerald’s writing perhaps a bit disjointed at times, or was that just the style of writing in the 1920s? (Or do I just have a lower reading level…)
5. Why did Baby want Dick to take care of her sister Nicole, but was then upset when the couple was engaged?
Reflection:
Personally, I didn’t really like this book. It was just…too much. It starts out with Rosemary falling in love (instantly) with Dick Diver (who is married), and there are tons of really crazy random parties, and then Dick falls in love with Rosemary too, and then they can’t pursue a relationship, and then you find out how Dick met his wife Nicole, and then she goes ballistic and almost kills them all by driving off a cliff, and then Dick becomes an alcoholic asshole, and he gets work at a clinic but is doing really poorly, and he keeps having intimate relations with young girls (legal, but young), and he’s such a failure, and then he and Nicole get divorced, and, and, and! There was just so much, and since the writing was already a bit difficult to follow at times, I just felt totally unsatisfied. It felt like Fitzgerald was forcing an exciting story to be written, and maybe it was a really good novel during his time, but I didn’t find it quite to my taste.
