I have been reading Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I love Fitzgerald and found the book for $0.50 at book sale, so why not. I am only about 120 pages in (it's hard to find time to read). So far I am enjoying it. I love the setting of the Mediterranean and the characters in the novel so far. The novel starts with Rosemary and her mother coming to France for a visit. Rosemary is only eighteen, but has already starred in a movie. When Rosemary goes to the beach she meets a group of people, among them are the Divers. Dick Diver is a charismatic, intelligent, American psychologist who is visiting France. Right now he seems to have it all together. People always want to be around him and Rosemary falls in love with him at first sight. However, he is married to Nicole Diver. Nicole is quieter than Dick and not much is learned about her yet. There are little signs throughout the novel that insinuate that the Diver's relationship is not as perfect as it seems.
As the novel goes on, Dick seems to take more of an important role. The reader finds out more and more about Dick and Nicole's past and relationship, however, the whole story is not revealed. The parts Fitzgerald does reveal seem to foreshadow things. When Nicole tells Rosemary a little bit about her past the reader gets the sense that her past was not as good as she made it sound. There are also many other events that seem to foreshadow things that may come. After a while, Dick seems to consider actually having a relationship with Rosemary. Nothing has happened yet, but it seems like something will. Also, when a comment is made regarding Nicole one of the men in their group, Tommy Barban, is the first to come to her defense. This, along with his other actions toward Nicole, makes me think there is something else going on. When the group take one of their friends to the train station there is a shooting. After this shooting Dick seems to change. He seems to be less stable. He was the one that held the whole group together. Now, it seems that he is becoming run down. All of the characters in the novel seem to be acting, even Dick, and it seems to be getting harder for everyone to act like everything is perfect. They seem to live a life of excess, like Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby. I hope that many of the characters become more developed as the novel progresses and am excited to see where the story goes.
I've been wanting to read this, hopefully there will be a post about it soon so I can know if it's any good or not!
ReplyDeleteI totally see where you're coming from with the "life of excess" theme. Fitzgerald definitely does seem to write about that lifestyle, of the beautiful and rich who are also flawed and corrupt, i.e. Daisy and how she's Gatsby's idea of the American Dream, yet on the inside she is rotten and corrupted, and in the end she sticks to her flawed, shallow life with Tom. Very intriguing!
I think it's good to relate his novels, and i think it gives them more depth, because even though they are separate stories, the author often has similar ideas/themes in their books, and reading and connecting more than one can help you to understand. One thing to ponder while you're reading:the title. I have not read the book, myself (although after reading this post, it's on my list!) Before even reading your analysis, I got to thinking about it, and I think it's very deep and explanatory. Is that the title because something important happens in the night? But i think it's more than that: maybe the author is trying to say that we have a second nature, one that we keep hidden, just like Rosemary hides her love, that is our true nature, which is why it is tender. Also, the night is when things happen that you don't want people to find out and by saying tender is the night, it might imply that humans foster our true nature in places we might not necessarily want people to see. I don't know, again, I haven't read the book, but just something to think about(: Good job alexis!! :D
ReplyDelete