Tender is the Night

For my final paper I have begun reading F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Tender is the Night and am exactly one-third of the way through the book at the moment (page 105 out of 315). This being said, I feel that I am at the perfect point to be sharing some opening impressions. I originally chose this story because I loved The Great Gatsby and have honestly enjoyed this story so far primarily because it is character-driven rather than plot-driven. This approach fits in well with Fitzgerald’s writing style and tendency to interject generalizations about situations and the human condition inside of the story’s narration.

The story (at least on the back cover) claims to be the tragedy of Dick Diver, but the narration centers around a young actress named Rosemary, who falls in love with Dick upon meeting him in France. The drama of the story comes from the fact that Rosemary goes about attempting to have an affair with Dick, who happens to be married. Overall, both seem to be sympathetic characters even though the plot of the novel so far has been predictable, the ending could be a surprise (though I’m guessing that it will end melancholic atmosphere and some large statement applicable to life as a whole –let’s face it, it is Fitzgerald- but that does happen to be my favorite type of ending). In fact, the plot itself at times does not even matter since the most interesting parts of the story seem to revolve around the personalities of Dick’s group of friends and the interactions between them – this story had a duel in the first fifty pages, what more could a reader want?