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
As Dick prepares to leave Nicole and their house in Tarmes, he dedicates himself to spending as much time with Topsy and Lanier as possible. He’s “not young anymore,” and no longer has any “nice thoughts and dreams.” Dick is “uncertain” about whether he has been a good father to Lanier, and about what to give “to the ever-climbing, ever-clinging, breast-searching young.” The children have been told that they will stay with Baby in London a while, before visiting their father in America. Dick says his farewells to the gardener and the children’s nanny, who is sad to see him go. Leaving letters for Baby and Nicole, Dick heads for the station alone, deciding to take a detour to Gausse’s beach to “take a last look.”
Despite Dick’s problematic behavior, his departure from Tarmes is still a heartbreaking one. Dick has to say goodbye to his dearest children, whom he fears he has nothing left to give to, and the villa staff he has known for years. Nicole and Baby aren’t up when he departs, and so he leaves the family home alone, full of regret and sadness.
Themes
Nicole, Baby, and the children are at the beach that same hot, sunny morning. Spotting Dick across the beach, Nicole retreats inside her dressing tent. When Baby suggests that he should have had “the delicacy to go,” Nicole defends Dick saying, “This is his place,” and “Dick was a good husband to me for six years.”
Nicole seems to have gained a degree of closure about Dick’s impending departure and the huge change to her life, but she still feels nervous to see him. Nicole loyally defends Dick in front of Baby, not wanting her sister to insult him or undermine the love they shared.
Themes
Dick can see them, and he observes them closely from the terrace, where he sits with Mary. He can’t quite believe that she is offering him advice but listens as she lectures him. “You say awful things to people when you’ve been drinking,” she says. Desperate to distract himself from the figure of Nicole in the distance, Dick begins to flirt with Mary, purely for the sake of proving to himself that he still possesses a degree of charm. Mary responds “enthusiastically.”
Dick is heartbroken by the figure of Nicole in the distance, and resorts to flirting with Mary—whom he finds both boring and grotesque—in order to make himself feel better. It is public knowledge in their social circle that Dick has disgraced himself through his excessive drinking, but still, Mary leaps at the chance of being charmed by him.
Themes
Suddenly, Dick “switched off the light and they were back in the Riviera sun.” Dick stands up to leave, swaying a little. He blesses the beach theatrically with a “papal cross” as people below the terrace watch. Nicole gets up from the beach saying, “I’m going to him,” but Tommy pulls her “firmly” back towards the sand.
Growing suddenly tired of the disingenuous game he’s been playing with Mary, Dick switches off his charm and retreats from her. He is drunk and draws attention to himself with a dramatic farewell to the beach. Tommy’s forceful decision to deny Nicole a chance to say goodbye to Dick seems unfair and controlling. Perhaps, however, Fitzgerald intended for this to be interpreted as kind and protective.
Themes
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