07/27/2005 10:59 AM
Posted by VeggieSteph

Tender Is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald

I made a goal for myself this year: to read more of those great classics that I missed while studying for my Lit degree. Tender Is the Night is one of those classics. F. Scott Fitzgerald spoke for the 20s generation, the flappers, the drinkers, and the displaced writers. I remembered him fondly from The Great Gatsby, so I was looking forward to checking out another of his books. I was not disappointed.

In Tender Is the Night, Fitzgerald tells the story of Dick and Nicole Diver, a seemingly perfect couple who are full of parties, easy friendships, and owners of a beautiful home on the Riviera. He shows their history, future, and the havoc simple decisions can play on a marriage that only seems perfect using a language that is simple, yet lyrical.


The book is divided into three parts, each narrated by a different character to show a different perspective on this couple and to lead the reader down a path to discover the truth behind this marriage. Book One is narrated by Rosemary, a young film star who becomes infatuated with Dick and his easy manner, and enamored with the society the Divers represent. Rosemary gives the reader the outside view of the Divers and of the class system in the Riviera. By the end of Book One, we feel like the Divers are possibly a perfect fairy-tale, but we have a feeling that the future is no so bright; there is something there that is about to rear its ugly head. Books Two and Three use Dick as the narrator to tell his history as an up-and-coming psychiatrist, how he meets Nicole in an asylum, and shows how Dick self-destructs. Despite misgivings from friends and in himself, Dick and Nicole marry, and his fears become reality as he discovers that his life becomes Nicole, and he can no longer be the intellectual he once was. Dick’s decline becomes inevitable when he ends up in an affair with Rosemary. By Book Three, Dick is a shadow of the man he once was, and he no longer cares about making people easy and comfortable. Nicole then becomes the narrator, and the reader sees her develop strength and learn to stand on her own. In essence, Dick does save her at almost the cost of himself. He disappears into America, and you are left to decide his fate on your own.

There are many layers to the narrative. Fitzgerald compares old money and new money, Europeans vs. Americans, sacrifice, love, and commitment. The story is complex, but it is also one you can just read and enjoy. You could delve in more to see the themes and get a deeper sense of the criticism he gives, but you can also just read the thing and get the main story of the Divers and the loss of their happiness. Fitzgerald’s use of personal acquaintances and personal experience with his wife Zelda also makes the story and characters realistic and easily identifiable. I found it pretty hard to tell whom the story is really about, but this is also a pretty normal debate. Is it about Dick, his fall from grace, and his possible redemption? You could argue that easily, since he is the narrator for the largest chunk of the book, and it ends on his last bit of story. Is it about Nicole and her developing a sense of self? I have a hard time thinking that, because it really seems to me that while she does improve, she swaps one man for another without really coming into her own.

The book is relatively short and easy to read, but each word counts together to create a very insightful look into the modern American aristocracy (Despite the 20’s date, you could easily move it to now and have the same things apply.) and the lives of a very complicated couple. I really enjoyed it.