Отчет по произведению "Ночь нежна" Ф. С. Фицджеральда.
The author and his books
F. Scott Fitzgerald was a short story writer and novelist considered one of the pre-eminent
authors in the history of American literature due almost entirely to the enormous success of his
third book, The Great Gatsby. Perhaps the novel, as well as a definitive social history of the Jazz
Age, The Great Gatsby has become required reading for almost every American high school
student and has had a huge effect on the readers.
At the age of 24, the success of his first novel, This Side of Paradise, made Fitzgerald famous.
One week later, he married the woman he loved and his muse, Zelda Sayre. In 1922, Fitzgerald
published his second novel, The Beautiful and Damned, the story of the troubled marriage of
Anthony and Gloria Patch. This work helped to strengthen Fitzgerald’s status as one of the great
satirists of the culture of wealth. However by the end of the 1920s Fitzgerald descended into
drinking, and Zelda had a mental breakdown. Following the unsuccessful Tender Is the Night,
Fitzgerald moved to Hollywood and became a scriptwriter. He died of a heart attack in 1940, at
age 44, his final novel only half completed.
The setting
Set in the small French coastal town of Tarmes between the years 1925 and 1935.
The main characters
The book portrays a cast of characters typical of Fitzgerald's fictional universe: wealthy, idle,
sophisticated, and, in many ways, "troubled."
 Dick Diver is a main figure in Tender is the Night. He’s a pretty shifty and changing
character, hard to get a fix on. Like most of the people we meet in Tender, Dick is
extreme in everything he does.
 Nicole Diver is the only character who gets to narrate a section in the first person. Her
world is torn apart when she’s a young teenager. Her mother had just died, and her father,
Devereux Warren, whom she adored, raped her.
 Tommy Barban is a fascinating character. He brings forth the idea of duality of the
novel, representing both destruction and repair. Before he and Nicole become lovers, he
is a professional soldier who will fight for any country. He is a self-proclaimed killer – a
destroyer.
 Rosemary Hoyt is a mysterious and glamorous figure in the novel. She’s the young and
beautiful movie star, traveling the globe, partying and being adored. She’s very talented.
 Mrs. Elsie Speers is Rosemary Hoyt's mother. She devotes her life to making Rosemary
a successful actress. She also tries to make her an individual but fails to achieve this goal.
 Beth Evan Warren is Nicole's older sister. She never fully approves of Dick because her
snobbery makes her feel superior to him. After a succession of quiet, well-mannered
affairs, she remains without roots or direction in her life.
The summary of the book
Rosemary Hoyt, a beautiful eighteen-year-old movie starlet, on vacation with her mother, arrives
at a rather deserted part of the French Riviera. There, Rosemary meets Dick Diver, a handsome
American psychologist in his thirties with whom she instantly falls in love. Dick and his wife,
Nicole, are sophisticated ones, and they move among similarly extraordinary people. Rosemary
becomes part of this world, and in the happy times that follow, Dick begins to reciprocate
Rosemary's feelings for him. Everything goes nice until, after an alcoholic friend of the Divers
accidentally kills a man, Rosemary discovers Dick comforting Nicole, who has had a mental
breakdown.
The story shifts back in time to relate the events that led up to the marriage of Dick and Nicole.
Dick attended Yale, was a Rhodes scholar, and then moved to Vienna to study clinical
psychology. Once, as Dick was leaving a clinic on the Zurichsee, he met the sixteen-year-old
Nicole Warren, who was being checked in. The Chicago heiress had been sexually abused by her
father and, as a result, had developed a fear of men. The two fall in love, and Dick becomes both
her doctor and her husband. They travel, are happy, and have two children together.
Partly because of Nicole's relapse, the Divers decide to invest in a clinic in Switzerland. Dick is
accused of unfaithfulness by a former patient, and Nicole, in anger, runs their car off the road.
Dick learns his father has passed away and heads to America for the funeral. Upon his return,
Dick meets Rosemary in a hotel, and the two consummate the aborted romance they had begun
several years earlier. Then Dick realizes his world is falling apart. He drinks, gets beat up and
imprisoned, and must be rescued by Nicole's sister, Baby Warren. As Dick continues to drink, he
is asked to leave his position at the clinic.
The Divers return to the Riviera, and Dick continues to drink, insulting old friends. Nicole has an
affair with Tommy Barban and asks Dick for a divorce in order to marry Tommy. Dick readily
agrees, realizing that Nicole's finally overcome her psychological condition. Dick then
disappears to America, never settling down. The story ends, suggesting that he is still there.
How the main personages reveal their characters
At first Dick Diver gives the impression of a man who costs nothing to gain anyone's favour. He
easily finds a way to the heart of any person, knows how to accurately identify the strengths and
weaknesses of his acquaintances, say the right compliment or smooth out any conflict. But then
he just loses the desire to play everyone's good friend, it becomes boring and nauseating. Dick
begins to show his indifference to his wife, quarrels with all his acquaintances. At the end of the
book, Dick plays the role of his former self for the sake of laughter, he flatters and compliments.
But that doesn’t make it better.
The disease prevents Nicole Diver from opening up and expressing herself. She keeps herself
insecure, and stays next to her charming husband. Because of her father, she had a fear of men.
But a chance meeting with Dick affected her. Nicole is not quite sociable, mostly reserved, but a
fabulously beautiful woman.
Tommy Barban is typically cold and unfeeling when most people are concerned, he spends
much of his time fighting in various wars. The character falls in love with Nicole and eventually
becomes her second husband.
Rosemary Hoyt is completely devoted to her mother, who has raised Rosemary to be
independent and ambitious. She adores the Divers, admiring Nicole for her beauty and wisdom
and falling deeply in love with Dick. Rosemary is determined to seduce Dick, and she is both
pure and attractive, reckless and calculated, confident and self-conscious.
Mrs. Elsie Speers is a calculated and opportunistic woman. She devotes her life to making
Rosemary a successful actress. She also tries to make her an individual but fails to achieve this
goal.
Beth Evan Warren (Baby Warren) is a rather cold woman, insulated from the world by her
wealth. She finds it difficult to empathize with her sister and her illness. Baby is rich and spoiled
and often expresses snobbish views towards those she considers beneath her. Although she does
want what’s best for Nicole, she wishes that some wealthy, successful man might marry and take
care of her.
General characteristics of the author’s style
I think the style of the author is mostly neutral. There is a considerable part of the characters'
dialogues and description in the work. Also Fitzgerald uses vivid imagery and metaphors to
provide a visual picture of his characters and settings.
The author’s message
The most important moral message of the novel is that living recklessly and excessively leads to
personal decline and destruction. The consequences may go beyond the individual and affect
others as well, such as when Abe's excessive drinking causes the imprisonment of one innocent
man and the death of another. Dick's excessive drinking also has terrible consequences, for
example, alienating his friends, ruining his career, and getting him beaten and imprisoned.
The title interpretation
The interpretation of the book's title is that a dark night can hide all human sins and vices, it
forgives and spares, and only in the light of day everything is revealed.