Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Tender, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Illusion of Control
Nature vs. Technology
The Power of Love
Summary
Analysis
While preparing dinner, Christine worries about an upcoming biopsy in the morning for a lump under her arm. Al, her husband, enters the kitchen, noting that she didn’t write the appointment on their calendar. They discuss the next day’s schedule, and Christine reveals she was trying to keep the biopsy a secret from their children. However, Al admits that he already told the kids and that “they’re fine about it.” Thinking of her lumpectomy reminds Christine of reading the story of the princess and the pea to Hannah, their four-year-old daughter, likening the lump in her arm to the bothersome pea. She refuses Al’s help with dinner and puts a dish in the oven.
Christine is immediately presented as a character who needs control—she has planned out the next day around her biopsy appointment and carefully tried to withhold the information from her children. Although she could be resting ahead of the biopsy, she refuses Al’s help with dinner, wanting to take care of everything herself.
Themes
Christine’s thoughts continue wandering to Hannah and Jamie, her seven-year-old brother. She recalls her past fantasies of having a clean house and well-behaved children, but none of that has come to fruition. Jamie loves to re-enact battles with action figures, leaving them strewn across the floor for everyone to step on, while Hannah throws loud tantrums and demands to wear nail polish “like some miniature Paris Hilton.” Christine limits her children to “one hour of sanctioned TV a night,” yet has been unable to keep them from engaging in their stereotypically boyish and girlish activities, much to her chagrin.
Christine continues demonstrating her desire to be in control of her circumstances, expressing frustration at how her children’s development has defied her efforts. Even if Christine’s expectations were somewhat unrealistic, she believed that her actions, such as limiting the children’s exposure to television, would provide some guarantee of good behavior. Raising children is a complicated and messy process, yet Christine views it as something that can be managed straightforwardly.
Themes
Christine’s memories then turn to life before children, when she and Al were adamant about living a natural way of life and adhering to “a grand theory of sustainability.” However, she laments that their once idealistic environmentalism “buckled in the face of practicality and time” after having children. Although she and Al had considered building their house with mud walls and only using electricity from solar panels, their home is now fitted with “an electric system like everyone else’s,” powering a television and electric heaters—the solar panels are just a “bonus.” Their trees are “painstakingly hand-watered from the dam and the bath” but have not grown into the “shady arbour” she imagined. Back in the present, she feels “a familiar mix of guilt and resentment” when she “dreams her nightly dream of an electric oven” while loading timber into their wood-fired one.
Christine and Al have compromised on their idealistic worldview once the practical needs of daily life began to force compromises. Moreover, some of their efforts to maintain a natural lifestyle, such as watering the trees by hand, have brought about disappointing results. Although she feels guilty about doing so, Christine cannot help dreaming of an easier life if she had simply given in to modern conveniences like an electric oven. She resents her situation, feeling trapped between the inconvenient commitments they made to a natural way of life, like the oven, and their compromises, such as owning a television.
Themes
Meanwhile, Al is bathing Hannah and Jamie but takes too long to find Hannah’s shower cap. When her hair gets wet, she begins the “whiny crying that always sets Christine’s teeth on edge.” Christine grows irritated at her husband, whose “ineffectual protestations” cannot prevent the children from fighting and screaming. Christine flashes back to the night she discovered the lump, when Al “had been the first one she’d told, of course.”
While Christine is preparing dinner, she continues demonstrating her inability to accept events outside her control, especially when it comes to her children. In this case, Hannah’s crying sets her off, and Christine grows angry at Al for not putting a stop to it, even though the crying is a normal behavior for a toddler. However, she quickly acknowledges that she relies on Al in her flashback, even if he does not always live up to her expectations.
Themes
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Christine continues recollecting her first appointment, when the radiographer had quickly stopped making small talk while looking at the ultrasound films. Christine remembers how “she’d hated the way [the doctor had] stared off over her head as his fingers had coolly explored the lump,” before prescribing a biopsy with “briskness and neutrality.”
The doctor’s detached, professional attitude angers Christine, who is just another patient to him. She views her health as an utmost priority, just as she sees most things in her life requiring constant and total attention. In contrast, the doctor represents the modern and technological approach, providing only impersonal statistics and objectivity.
Themes
Christine’s thoughts are interrupted when she notices “the familiar tiny dark shape of a mouse” scamper across the kitchen. She gets up to find mousetraps, remarking that she’ll need to remind Al to check the traps in the morning—if their kids “find[] a dead mouse,” they’ll surely “demand[] a funeral and burial,” disrupting the family’s whole morning routine.
Although the presence of mice is part of a natural way of life, Christine turns to a technological solution—mouse traps—to stop the infestation, thus embodying the theme of nature versus technology that runs throughout the story. That Christine sees the mice as a problem to be solved also highlights her desire to control every aspect of her environment, including what critters come inside the house. However, she has raised the children to appreciate the sanctity of life, so they will want a funeral even for mice. In contrast, the modern, objective perspective associated with the doctor would not view mice as worthy of a funeral.
Themes
While baiting and setting a couple of traps, Christine glances at the assorted herbal medicines in the pantry, scoffing at a store-bought bottle of “rescue remedy” that she would never have purchased before having children.
Another compromise in Christine and Al’s life presents itself in the form of store-bought herbal remedies. Although they have not completely turned to pharmaceutical drugs, they still embrace the convenience of buying medicine at the store instead of making it at home.
Themes
After placing the traps, Christine calls the family to dinner, annoyed again at Al for letting the children stay in the bath well past dinnertime. Her frustration with “the dreamy way he handles life,” disregarding schedules, reminds her of the time that she met his coworkers at a barbecue and asked one of them how Al managed his responsibilities at work. The coworker had been surprised by the question, and assured Christine that Al “does his own thing,” but “it all comes together in the end.”
Christine goes into detail about Al’s personality, unable to understand his approach to life. Her need for control and organization is at odds with his relaxed attitude. His coworker expresses that others place trust in Al to make results happen, suggesting that he is capable of taking responsibility when it matters.
Themes
Christine, though, can only think of how Al’s laid-back attitude drives her crazy when he inevitably forgets or neglects his responsibilities at home. She watches as he dumps a basket of folded laundry onto the floor, looking for Hannah’s pajamas, taking his time and ignoring the children continuing to fight. He eventually finds a pair and turns it right side out with a “distracted but surprisingly adept movement.” Meanwhile, Christine continues to worry about the lump and repeats the word “malignant” to herself, wondering if she should stock the kitchen with tuna and pasta in case she stays at the hospital past dinnertime.
Christine is surprised by Al’s competence in shaking out a pair of pajamas effortlessly, even though this seems to be a small task, highlighting her tendency to worry about even trivial, daily matters such as laundry. Her anxiety over the lumpectomy—though understandable—festers during dinner, prompting her to worry about preparing for the next day’s dinner. Her need for planning and control prevents her from enjoying even a small moment like family dinnertime and takes her directly to organizing a day ahead.
Themes
After dinner, Jamie asks for a cardboard box to make a diorama for a school project. Christine finds one for him before he “calmly” mentions that the project is due the next day, prompting her to compare him to Al. Nevertheless, she experiences “the ardent rush of helpless, terrible love” come over her when she sees “his serious seven-year-old face” and helps him collect materials. While Christine prepares lunches, Jamie works diligently on his diorama, “his tongue jerk[ing] across his bottom lip in concentration.”
Although Jamie is entirely at fault for putting off the project until the last minute, Christine’s strong motherly love for him—not to mention her controlling instincts—compel her to help him with the project instead of becoming angry. Just as Christine feels both exasperation and admiration for Al, she is both frustrated with and enamored of her son. In both cases, Christine’s frustrations stem from her inability to accept that other people have different ways of doing things. That Jamie dedicates himself so fervently to the project once he finally starts is reminiscent of when Al’s coworker assured Christine that Al’s work always comes together in the end, even if he goes about it in his own way—something Christine, a meticulous and careful planner, can hardly fathom.
Themes
When Jamie’s bedtime arrives, Al chides him for not starting the project earlier, but Christine notes her husband’s hypocrisy—he’s the one who leaves “half-finished bookshelves” laying around and “can’t seem to shut a drawer once he’s opened it.” Jamie looks sadly at his work, unwilling to show up at school in front of the other students “who always have their things ready on time.” Al, who wants the kids to go to bed so he can go on the computer, orders Jamie to finish up within the next 10 minutes.
Jamie’s sadness about showing up to school with an unfinished diorama and being embarrassed in front of other students who have completed ones triggers more motherly love in Christine, even as Al prompts him to go to bed soon. Even though Al is right, Christine cannot help being slightly annoyed by his hypocrisy, as he also does things on his own timeline—which usually means procrastinating or abandoning a project altogether.
Themes
After Jamie goes to bed, Christine takes over his project, intent on surprising her son with a completed diorama in the morning. She stays up late into the night anyway, gathering things from around the house, only pausing briefly to set another mousetrap. She recognizes she’s going a little bit overboard, and jokes with Al about how she’s turned into one of those overbearing parents who commandeer their kids’ homework. He is amused at her determination but quietly washes the dishes while she works.
Christine’s love for her son further overwhelms her, now pushing her to take over the project entirely. Her desire for control is presented as somewhat of a positive force here, as it’s rooted in her love for her son and not wanting him to be disappointed. And even though Al doesn’t always meet her expectations, he shows his love for Christine in his own way in this passage as he takes care of washing the dishes so that she can keep working on the diorama.
Themes
Around midnight, Christine passes through Hannah and Jamie’s rooms, where she lovingly takes in the sight of her healthy, growing children even as she acknowledges the feeling of her own body and health deteriorating.
Even though nature has brought about the development of Christine’s lump, it has also provided her with the gift of children. While she observes Hannah and Jamie sleeping, she also sees the irony in her situation.
Themes
The next morning, Christine rises early, eager to put a few finishing touches on Jamie’s diorama. She wanders out into the garden, where the sensation of “dew drench[ing] her ankles” and “the deep spicy smell of the lemon-scented gum” calm her. She collects a sprig and some moss to finish off the diorama before heading back inside. The memory of Al effortlessly shaking out the pajamas comforts her as she waits for the train to her appointment. Just before she leaves, Christine finds each mousetrap in the house and “kneels down in front of [it]” to release the spring “with a benign harmless snap.”
Christine appreciates beauty and wonder of nature in the garden, allowing them to calm her. She removes the mousetraps when she realizes they have failed and are a futile attempt to exert her control over nature. Instead of trying to control her interactions with it, Christine finally embraces nature as it is, including both the beauty of morning dew and garden scents and the ugliness of mice and her lump.
Themes
