Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Tender Is the Night, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Excess, Destruction, and the Failed American Dream
Gender, Mental Illness, and Psychiatry
The Pursuit of Youth and Innocence
Racism and Otherness
Summary
Analysis
Presently, Dick returns to his guests and relieves the tension in the group by indulging McKisco in a conversation about literature. When at last Dick leads Rosemary through the garden, leaving the others behind, she feels strongly that she has deserved this time alone with him. As they look out upon the sea, Dick invites Rosemary to join him and Nicole in Paris. Delighted by the invitation, but wary that he is “passing her along slowly toward Nicole,” Rosemary boldly reiterates her position, declaring her love for him once more.
After their stay on the French Riviera, the Divers’ next destination is Paris. Their lifestyle reflects Fitzgerald’s own experiences during the 1920s, when he and his wife, Zelda, traveled extensively throughout Europe. Quite confidently, and quite in control, Rosemary assertively declares her love for Dick; it appears that she might be less naïve than initially expected.
Themes
Although Rosemary has a tempting appeal, and Dick doesn’t want to shut her out forever, he feels the need to deliver her back to Nicole at the house. The guests plan how they will get home in two separate cars—“There would be Tommy Barban […] with Mrs. Abrams, Violet McKisco, Mr. McKisco and Campion” in one car, and Early Brady, Rosemary, Mrs. Speers, and Dumphry in the other. As Rosemary leaves, she wonders what Violet saw in the bathroom.
Dick desires Rosemary and her youth and beauty but he’s distracted by Nicole’s recent behavior in the bathroom, which the reader later learns was the beginning of a psychotic relapse. Not wanting to act on his feelings for Rosemary now, but careful to preserve the possibility of exploring this opportunity at a later date, Dick carefully leads her back to the house. Dick is a master manipulator and he is accustomed to getting his way.
Themes
