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Book 2, Chapter 23
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
Kaethe Gregorovious runs up the garden path to meet her husband, Franz, with just one question on her lips—“How [i]s Nicole?” Franz refuses to answer Kaethe’s question until they’re inside the house, where he shouts at his wife, saying, “Birds in their little nests agree” and accuses her of not using her common sense. Kaethe replies saying, “she only cherishes her illness as an instrument of power.” Kaethe has a strong sense that Nicole doesn’t like her, and jokes that it is “as if I smelt bad!” In fact, this isn’t far from the truth; Kaethe’s natural smell—a product of hard-work and being frugal—does offend Nicole.
Franz’s relationship with his wife, Kaethe, is traditional and patriarchal. He is the breadwinner, while she takes care of the domestic realm. He is also vocally authoritative, patronizing, and clearly has more power in their relationship. Kaethe is right to detect that Nicole dislikes her. The two women are essentially positioned as opposites: while Nicole is wealthy, feminine, elegant, and spoiled, Kaethe is humble, hardworking and practical.
Themes
Realizing that her “outburst had been ill-advised,” Kaethe resolves to take a different course on this matter. When Dick returns from his trip and she notices a scar on his face, Kaethe decides to raise the matter with her husband once more, announcing after a dinner with the Divers that “Dick is no longer a serious man.” Although Franz denies it at the time—calling Dick a “brilliant man”—he takes on board what Kaethe has said, later convincing himself that he had never taken Dick seriously in the first place.
Kaethe is much more perceptive and intelligent than others realize. She is the first to determine, for example, that Dick is not the man he used to be. Franz comes to share her view about Dick’s deterioration, but never gives Kaethe credit for being the first to detect this. Franz and Kaethe’s relationship is acutely sexist, with Franz dismissing and belittling his wife’s opinions because he sees her as inferior to him.
Themes
