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The Blinds in the Train
The modern psychiatric clinic functions as a symbol of society’s cultural anxieties at the time that Fitzgerald was writing. In the novel, patients are admitted for treatment for a whole host of illnesses and nervous conditions, reflecting how the psychiatric industry boomed and flourished in the post-war years. Dick is hired, for example, to cure a young man of his homosexuality, which at the time was considered a disease that needed curing. Fitzgerald also reveals the immense power afforded to psychiatrists to make profound decisions about other people’s lives, and suggests that this is fundamentally irresponsible. Not without irony, Fitzgerald depicts how Dick is entrusted with the task of curing a man of his drinking problem, while suffering with alcoholism himself. Nicole’s father, Mr. Devereux Warren, also presents an interesting case. In the wake of World War I, the figure of the American man symbolized goodness, morality, and heroism. On the surface, Mr. Warren is an attractive, respectable businessman that aligns with this ideal, and no one would suspect him of having raped his own daughter when she was a child. While others might perceive Nicole as mad, sick, or unwell because of her schizophrenia, which stemmed from this traumatic rape, Mr. Warren walks freely among society, never paying a price for the abuse of his daughter. The psychiatrists protect his sordid secret, and thus the sanitarium exists in a space outside of the law, where doctors like Dick and Franz are able to decide who is well and who is mad; who is good, and who is evil.
The Sanitarium Quotes in Tender Is the Night
The Tender Is the Night quotes below all refer to the symbol of The Sanitarium. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Book 2, Chapter 5
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Nicole took advantage of this to stand up and the impression of her youth and beauty grew on Dick until it welled up inside him in a compact paroxysm of emotion. She smiled, a moving childish smile that was like all the lost youth in the world.
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Book 2, Chapter 8
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“But I will carry you down in my arms,” Marmora protested intensely. “I will roller-skate you—or I will throw you and you will fall slowly like a feather.”
The delight in Nicole’s face—to be a feather again instead of a plummet, to float and not to drag. She was a carnival to watch—at times primly coy, posing, grimacing and gesturing—sometimes the shadow fell and the dignity of old suffering flowed down into her fingertips.
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Book 2, Chapter 10
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Dick, why did you register Mr. and Mrs. Diver instead of Doctor and Mrs. Diver? I just wondered—it just floated through my mind.—You’ve taught me that work is everything and I believe you. You used to say a man knows things and when he stops knowing things he’s like anybody else, and the thing is to get power before he stops knowing things. If you want to turn things topsy-turvy, all right, but must your Nicole follow you walking on her hands, darling?
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Book 2, Chapter 11
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As an indifference cherished, or left to atrophy, becomes an emptiness, to this extent he had learned to become empty of Nicole, serving her against his will with negations and emotional neglect.
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Book 2, Chapter 13
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“We must think it over carefully—” and the unsaid lines back of that: “We own you, and you’ll admit it sooner or later. It is absurd to keep up the pretence of independence.”
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Book 2, Chapter 15
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She was laughing hilariously, unashamed, unafraid, unconcerned. No one coming on the scene would have imagined that she had caused it; she laughed as after some mild escape of childhood.
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Book 3, Chapter 10
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On an almost parallel occasion, back in Dohmler’s clinic on the Zürichsee, realizing this power, he had made his choice, chosen Ophelia, chosen the sweet poison and drunk it. Wanting above all to be brave and kind, he had wanted, even more than that, to be loved. So it had been.
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Get the entire Tender Is the Night LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Sanitarium Symbol Timeline in Tender Is the Night
The timeline below shows where the symbol The Sanitarium appears in Tender Is the Night. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Book 2, Chapter 2
Dick visits his friend Franz Gregorovious at Dohmler’s psychiatric clinic—“a rich person’s clinic.” Franz is “proud, fiery, and sheeplike” and “would without doubt become a...
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...becomes apparent that Dick has been in contact with one of Franz’s patients at the clinic, who is now “perfectly well.” Dick recounts how he met “the young girl” by chance,...
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Pleasant pastures and “a fresh smell of health and cheer” surround Professor Dohmler’s clinic. Ten years ago, it had been “the first modern clinic for mental illness.” Waiting in...
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Book 2, Chapter 3
One day, a man called Mr. Devereux Warren had arrived at the clinic with his 16-year-old daughter, Nicole. He was “tall” and “handsome”—“a fine American type.” He had...
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Having left his daughter at the clinic, Mr. Warren avoided returning to visit Nicole, saying, “But look here, Doctor, that’s what you’re...
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Book 2, Chapter 4
...letter writing helped her recovery, because she was able to think about somebody outside the clinic, and this gave her hope. He warns Dick, however, that he should be careful when...
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Book 2, Chapter 7
...he bumps into her immediately upon leaving Dohmler’s office. She speaks happily of leaving the clinic soon with her sister, Beth, explaining that everyone calls her “Baby.” Dick looks at Nicole...
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Nicole prattles on about how her language skills have improved at the clinic, but it makes Dick “sad when she brought out her accomplishments for his approval.” Dick...
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Book 2, Chapter 8
...in Nicole immediately: “she [is] the first morning in May and every taint of the clinic [is] departed.”
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Book 2, Chapter 9
...Baby, asking Dick to travel with Nicole to Zurich and drop her back at the clinic. Dick is “furious,” believing Baby’s actions to be part of an elaborate plan to “throw...
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Book 2, Chapter 13
Franz is desperate to tell Dick something: there is an exciting opportunity to buy a clinic near Zurich and go into business together. It soon becomes apparent that Franz needs Dick’s...
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Feeling differently about the clinic two days later, Dick tells Franz that he wants to go ahead with the project....
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Book 2, Chapter 14
Since living beside the clinic, Lanier has developed a strong admiration for his father, Dick. Doctor Diver is 38 and...
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Book 2, Chapter 21
...to consider moving with Nicole to London, arguing that a normal life away from the clinic might be just what she needs, saying, “to leave her alone in an atmosphere like...
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Book 3, Chapter 2
...ghastly experience lingers with Dick, but he decides to throw himself into work at the clinic so that Franz doesn’t have an opportunity to “break with him.”
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...that evening, where the latter begs Dick—on his knees—to take Francisco with him to the clinic. Dick refuses saying, “It’s impossible to commit a person on such grounds. I wouldn’t if...
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Book 3, Chapter 3
Back at the clinic a week later, Dick notices some “commotion outside.” He sees his colleague, Dr. Lladislau, protesting...
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Book 3, Chapter 4
Since withdrawing their financial investment in the clinic, the Divers have been very rich indeed. Their wealth allows them to travel in an...
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