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
It’s August when Dick and Mrs. Speers have coffee on the coast near Cannes to discuss the end of his affair with Rosemary. Mrs. Speers thanks him for looking after Rosemary in Paris and assures him kindly that he was the first man her daughter really loved. Dick is surprised to hear that “no provision had been made for him” when Mrs. Speers had originally encouraged her daughter “to go ahead” in pursuing him. Dick can’t help blurting out that he’s still in love with Rosemary. When he says his final goodbye to Mrs. Speers, he feels that he’ll never be able to forget her.
The narration returns to 1925 after Dick and Nicole have left Paris and returned home to Tarmes. Rosemary has clearly distanced herself from the Divers after witnessing Nicole’s breakdown in the bathroom, which Dick is upset and hurt about. He is also upset to learn that Mrs. Speers had encouraged Rosemary to pursue the affair all this time, and realizes that they had not considered his feelings, nor the consequences for his marriage, when they hatched their plan.
Themes
Back at the house in Tarmes, Dick riffles through his books and scientific work, feeling ashamed about the years he’s wasted not publishing. The thought of seeing Nicole gives him “a leaden feeling”—he must always “keep up a perfect front” in order to protect Nicole, but the performance tires him.
Dick’s emotional health is deteriorating. Looking after Nicole for all these years has taken its toll, and he almost resents her for having prevented him from working and achieving professional success.
Themes
Dick thinks back forlornly to when they had left Paris without even saying goodbye to Rosemary. He had sat in the train with Nicole, hoping that a nice lunch could help salvage their relationship, but waiting anxiously for the aftermath of their abrupt exit from the city. Discussing Rosemary, Nicole had said, “I can see how she’d be very attractive to men,” causing Dick to feel sick with jealousy. He remembers the story of Hillis and Rosemary in the locked train compartment, and again imagines Hillis asking Rosemary if he can pull down the train curtain.
Dick is heavy-hearted about losing Rosemary, but also realizes that his main task now is to prevent Nicole from further relapse. He is forced to bury his feelings and push Rosemary out of his mind, otherwise he will destroy his other romantic relationship with Nicole. The repetition of the imaginary conversation between Rosemary and Hillis reveals that Dick is still consumed by jealous and passionate thoughts of Rosemary.
Themes
Dick contemplates his unique position as both Nicole’s husband and doctor. Nicole’s long psychotic episode after the birth of their second daughter, Topsy, had been agonizing for Dick, and had taught him to assume a professional detachment to her ill health. Dick “had learned to become empty of Nicole,” but now his objectivity borders on emotional coldness and neglect toward his wife.
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