Annotated Bibliography
Fitzgerald, F S. Tender Is the Night. New York: Scribner, 1934. Print.
Summary Tender is the Night is a novel about the fall of an esteemed psychiatrist, Dick Diver, who is struggling to heal his mentally ill wife. An affair with a naive young woman, Rosemary, triggers his fall, because even though he leaves his wife Nicole for Rosemary, she ultimately rejects him now that he no longer is esteemed; meanwhile his wife falls in love with another man who accepts her as she is, prompting her to leave her Mr. Diver. Mr. Diver fell in love with Rosemary, but he didn’t want to admit it to himself. He knew that if Nicole ever found out she would have a mental breakdown. All that mattered to Mr. Diver was that Nicole was mentally stable. It was almost as if Mr. Diver put Nicole’s mental stability before his own desires. When Rosemary throws himself at Mr. Diver he denies her. On page 62 he asks her, “Have you thought about how much it would hurt Nicole?” Rosemary is selfish and did not care about how badly it would hurt Nicole. In her defense she was unaware about Nicole’s mental state. On page 97 he admits to Rosemary that he is in love with her. He said, “I’m afraid I’m in love with you and that’s not the best thing that could happen.” He feels guilty for loving her because he knows it would tear Nicole apart if she ever found out. When the book shifts back to the past it explained how Mr. Diver met Nicole at the clinic. She fell in love with him and he denied her (similar to how he did to Rosemary). Over time he grew feelings for her and felt obligated to be with her because of her mental condition and felt that he could help her get better. When Mr. Diver confessed his love to Rosemary he told her: “Nicole mustn’t know-she mustn’t suspect even faintly. Nicole and I must go on together. In a way that’s more important than just wanting to go on.” This indicates that Mr. Diver’s main focus is making sure Nicole is mentally stable. When Nicole has the affair with Tommy she finally feels like she is “cured” for the first time. It turned out that Mr. Diver never really was the true source of her happiness. Mr. Diver was so focused on ‘fixing’ her that Nicole felt like she was never good enough. When she had the affair with Tommy she realized he was who she wanted to be with all along. Form and Genre There are three distinct parts of the novel, each narrated in the third person, but from the point of view of three characters. First Rosemary, the naive young American girl who seduces Mr. Diver, who is the second point of view, and the last part is told from Nicole’s point of view. The book begins with a young movie star, Rosemary, who is on vacation with her mother in the French Riviera. She meets Dick Diver who is a handsome older American Psychiatrist, and quickly falls in love with him. Rosemary pursues Dick, knowing he is married, and gets denied. Although Mr. Diver is attracted to Rosemary, he knows he cannot have an affair because it would devastate his wife, Nicole. This first section ends leaving the reader unfulfilled. The reader wants to know what will happen next: will the affair happen? If it does, what will be the consequences? Will Nicole suffer some great tragic end? The second section of the novel The story then shifts back in time and it is told in Mr. Diver perspective. This part of the book focused on Mr. Diver and how he went to Yale and worked hard to become a Psychiatrist. He met his wife in a clinic when she was just sixteen years old. Her father had sexually abused her so she had developed a psychological disorder. Mr. Diver spent years trying to help her psychological condition. Eventually, they fell in love and got married. The story shifts into present time again and Mr. Diver goes back to Rosemary and they have an affair. Which is Ironic because Nicole also had an affair with a man named Tommy. She tells Dick she wants a divorce and he agreed. They both go their separate ways and Nicole is left with Tommy, who eventually helps her overcome her psychological condition. Controlling Idea versus Counter Idea One of the main controlling values in this book is the need to “fix” someone. Since Mr. Diver is a psychiatrist he is constantly trying to cure his wife of her mental illness. He becomes obsessed with the idea of trying to make her better. Mr. Diver treats his wife like a patient of his. He so desperately wants her to be better that at times she feels like she is not good enough. The counter idea of this is that if you treat your significant other like they need to be fixed and that they aren't good enough they will eventually seek love elsewhere. Nicole left Mr. Diver for another man because he accepted her as she was. Therefore, it lead her to true happiness and love which eventually is how she overcame her condition. Intertextual codes
What makes this novel complex is that it brings together several symbolic oppositions. It brings together into the conflict control and loss of control, naivety and experience, deceit and truthfulness, mental illness and health, trying to fix or change others and letting them be who they are. In his chapter “Structure and Meaning,” McKee argues that we should look to the last act’s climax to see what the controlling idea of the story is. For this novel, the last act is Nicole’s story in which she becomes strong enough to leave Mr. Diver. What is the cause of her being so strong? Her finding real love leads to her being strong enough to assert herself and to then escape from Mr. Diver’s control. Therefore, the counter idea is that lacking real love leaves one open to being controlled by others who do not love you. Symbolic Code There are many unresolvable oppositions going on in the text. Nicole Diver inherited her family’s money and as a result she and Mr. Diver live a luxurious life. They both hold superior positions in society and they are strongly admired by their friends. Rosemary is a movie star so she is also financially well off. They are both wealthy, but go through many struggles through out the book. Nicole just wants to be accepted as she is and Rosemary wants Mr. Diver to love her as much as she loves him. The two weakest characters in the book (Rosemary and Nicole) become the strongest by the end. Nicole gets the courage to leave Mr. Diver to be with the man that truly loves her and Rosemary also ends their relationship as well. Mr. Diver was a strong character in the beginning, but by the end his world comes crashing down and he becomes the weak one. |
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