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Book 2, Chapter 5
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
Dick next sees Nicole in May, and although he knows that his life plan stands in opposition to a relationship with her, he can’t help but “take pleasure in her youthful vanities and delights.” Nicole continues to grow in confidence, finding herself “beautiful and rich.”
Nicole’s wealth and beauty equip her with a sense of value and importance in the world. Meanwhile, Dick—a young, promising doctor—seems likely to throw away his ambitions and life plans for this young girl. Through this narrative, Fitzgerald characterizes Nicole as a burden and a liability to Dick’s brilliant potential.
Themes
Back in Zurich, Franz is discouraging about Dick’s plans to publish a book about psychiatry. The two men turn to the subject of Nicole. Dick admits that he likes her and is unsure about the proper way to proceed. They decide to speak with Dohmler, but Dick is dubious about whether this will “throw much light on the matter.”
Franz is doubly disappointed in Dick—first for not heeding his advice about Nicole, and second because he believes his book project to be unrefined and beneath him.
Themes
Franz and Dick meet Dohmler in his office, where the latter’s elegance and authority disarm Dick. Dohmler explains, quite calmly and assertively, that Dick’s involvement with Nicole “must be terminated” immediately. Feeling the thunderous intensity of Dohmler’s words, Dick spills everything: “I’m half in love with her—the question of marrying her has passed through my mind.” Franz responds with disappointment and discouragement, warning Dick that to marry Nicole would be to shackle himself to a life of being “doctor and nurse and all.” “Of course Franz is right,” replies Dick.
The three doctors seem unconcerned by the notion that it would be both improper and inappropriate for Dick to marry a young patient and are instead preoccupied with the negative impact Nicole could have on Dick’s prospects. In other words, the men who are supposed to be caring for and protecting Nicole perceive her first and foremost as a burden and a threat to Dick’s future success.
Themes
