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Book 2, Chapter 4
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 Nicole walks to meet Dick, she brings the “last light” from the room with her. Nicole has difficulty “unfastening her eyes” from Dick’s, “as though they had become entangled.” After some light conversation between Dick, Nicole, and an unnamed “Señora”—whom neither Dick nor Nicole are interested in—Nicole suggests they go outside for a walk. Dick is enchanted by Nicole’s “youth and beauty” to the point that he feels himself “well[ing] up” with emotion. Her angelic face excites and dazzles Dick, who begins to feel uncertain about the nature of their relationship.
The descriptions of Nicole here—the “childish smile” and the power of “her youth and beauty” are very reminiscent of Rosemary from Book 1. As a young girl, Nicole is completely enchanting, and Dick is immediately drawn to how beautiful and youthful she is. The reader witnesses Dick falling in love with Nicole just like he go on to be enchanted by Rosemary. Dick is so attracted to youth because it symbolizes the power, hope, and promise that he wants to possess.
Themes
When they meet the following week, Nicole is waiting for Dick outside. Listening to music on a phonograph, they feel as if they have been transported to America. Nicole starts to sing to Dick and he stands up abruptly upon seeing the “pure parting of her lips.” Sensing an opportunity, Nicole gathers all of her loveliness into a smile and directs it towards Dick. Until now, Dick’s experiences with women have been limited to “hot-cheeked girls in hot secret rooms,” but now he is confronted with Nicole and “a profound promise of herself for so little.”
Dick desires Nicole but he also longs for a different version of her—one that never experienced the sexual abuse that she did as a child. This is not only because he wishes that she could be free from her suffering and trauma. Rather, Dick selfishly wishes that Nicole were pure, clean, and uncomplicated. He wants her to be different from the “hot-cheeked girls”—who are sinful and spoiled—and be angelic and innocent instead.
Themes
