The Role of Day and Night in Fitzgerald's,Tender is the Night

In the novel, Tender Is the Night, F. Scott Fitzgerald makes a concerted effort to convey to the reader the stifling nature of society and how man's natural actions and emotions stand in opposition to the roles that society would like to have him play. This concept is established initially by the quote from Keats' poem "Ode to a Nightingale" on the title page of the novel and is reiterated throughout by the sharp contrast Fitzgerald draws between the day's actions, which are heavily influenced by society, and the night's, which are based on emotions and lost inhibitions.

On the title page of the novel, the following quote from John Keats' poem "Ode to a Nightingale" gives the reader an idea of what is to come:

"Already with thee! Tender is the night...
...But here there is no light,
Save what from heaven is with the breezes blown
Through verdurous glooms and winding mossy ways."

In relation to Tender is the Night this essentially means that all that is fabricated and manmade, for example consumerism, war and the pretense of society is "blown" away at night. All that remains is what is natural, in this case "verdurous glooms and winding mossy ways" but in relation to the novel, the poem refers to man's emotions, natural instincts and all that is heaven sent, free from society's negative influence. This point is further exemplified throughout the novel, by comparing the insincere actions of the daytime with the honest emotionality of the night.

When analyzing the actions that occur during the day it is possible to see that they deal mainly with the following themes or categories: money and consumerism, war, gender, and social class, all of which are implementations of society at large and in no way innate (with possible exception of war, since fighting may be considered a part of human nature).

One of the many conversations concerning money takes place during the day in Book 2, around page 173, and concerns Nicole's inheritance and how she should invest it. The discussion then evolves into Nicole and Dick investing $220,000 in a clinic with Franz. Dick, who early on in the novel begins to show his disdain or contempt for society, is less comfortable with the discussion and lets Baby Warren take control of the situation.

Fitzgerald also delves into the world of money, and in this case consumerism, when he discusses Nicole and Rosemary's views on spending. Rosemary sees Nicole as the most attractive woman she'd ever met and associates most of her more attractive qualities to her attitude towards money, not her physical appearance or personality. Rosemary believes she can never be as appealing and elusive as Nicole because she has worked for her money and has grown up under the guidance of her "mother's middle-class mind" (54). Rosemary views her money as being "miraculously lent to her

The difference between the two is drastically emphasized when they actually go shopping together. Rosemary buys "two dresses and two hats and four pairs of shoes with her money" (54), while Nicole buys enough to fill an entire paragraph in the novel and "a great list that ran two pages" (54) as well as things that were in windows, things she didn't need and things that she simply liked but had no purpose for.

War and fighting is yet another topic that is referred to almost completely during the day: first there is the duel between Tommy Barban and McKisco. Although the initial duel challenge, which was made out of passion, was issued at night, the actual fighting takes place in the early morning. Also, there is the group's trip to the World War I battle site, around pages 56 and 57, where they discuss the drudgery and politics of the war. Both of these examples are instances of highly organized fighting, yet another manmade convention.

Also, during the day, Fitzgerald makes much commentary as to the roles of men and women. It is always during the day that women are, in a sense, put in their place; being told, by men, who to feel, how to act, and what is considered morally right and morally wrong. In the luncheon scene on page 53, Rosemary, Nicole, and Mary North are described as "happy to exist in a man's world- they preserved their individuality through men and not by opposition to them." Also, following the shooting in the train station, Rosemary and Nicole feel ill at ease because they are waiting for "Dick to make a moral comment" (85), they feel as though they cannot judge for themselves the more impact of the situation, but rather have to wait for Dick to make one.

Finally, it is almost always that social status is brought during the day, because it is most obviously socially constructed. The first example of social class is when Dick takes Rosemary to the party following their viewing of "Daddy's Girl." There she experiences a group of girls who look down upon the Divers, because the girls see them as a bore. This shows the differences in social class because Rosemary admires the Divers because of their charm and their wealth, but these upper class girls see them as tedious and below themselves.

All of the aforementioned situations both take place during the day and are concerned with unnatural, social constructs. Money and a tendency towards consumerism are not instinctive to man; they are imposed by society for survival and comfort. War is also artificial; although men may naturally have an inclination towards fighting, as animals do, it is organized combat, such as a duel or trench warfare, that is constructed by societies. Gender roles prescribed for women are also not innate with in human beings, as is social class. All of this is evident simply by comparison to the actions that take place at night, all of which are freer of inhibitions and based more closely on what is heaven sent: passions and emotions.

One of the first instances the reader sees of lost inhibitions is when Rosemary hears Luis Campion crying outside the hotel in the middle of the night. He is crying uncontrollably and refuses to give any real reason. His behavior defies gender roles, crying, especially hysterically, is seen as womanly behavior and thus a man would be looked down upon for doing such.

It is also at night that Rosemary and Dick act upon their "love" or lust for each other. They initially kiss in the backseat of a taxi, and later profess their "love" for each other and further act upon that love in the backseat of another taxi and in the stairwell of their hotel. Their relationship is considered socially unacceptable both because Dick is married and also because of the difference in their ages but, at night this does not seem matter and they act freely on their passions.

Finally, it is at night when Dick and Nicole fall in love. Although their relationship begins through letters from Nicole to Dick while he is away at war, their relationship takes a more passionate, and presumably physical, turn when Dick returns to the sanitarium and they begin taking nighttime trips out into the garden. It is in the moonlight that they speak intimately of their emotions and act upon their love.

Throughout the novel there are many other scenes in which the night is displayed as a safe-haven for honest and pure emotions and the ability to act on these emotions. There are however, specific instances in which the contrast between day and night is exemplified. First there is Nicole's discussion of the different types of conversations she has. When she and Dick are first married they have long, honest discussions that take place in bed late at night. She and Dick used to "hide from the sun" in an effort to prolong these conversations. She compares the honesty of these talks with the superficiality of her exchanges with Mary North: "When Mary and I talk, neither of us listens to the other" (Pg 162). There is an obvious difference between these two. Nicole's conversations with Dick are born from something natural and sincere, while her conversations with Mary are false and born from social necessity.

Baby's treatment of Dick's arrest is also another instance in which day and night are sharply contrasted within a single occurrence. The night of his arrest, Baby acts somewhat passionately for her usually reserved nature. She goes to the ambassador and the consul and makes a scene. Fitzgerald describes her as acting with "wild, confident rage" (226). Also, "she let herself go and began to cry angrily as she talked" (Pg 230). This is another uncharacteristic action on Baby's behalf. In her concern for Dick and anger over the situation Baby acts uncontrollably and out of passion and emotion, rather than reason. During the day, however she turns Dick's predicament around, for her own gain: "whatever Dick's previous record was, they now possessed a moral superiority over him for as long as he proved of any use." Baby is no longer concerned about Dick but rather herself and how the situation can be to her benefit.

Within Tender is the Night there are several characters that continuously go against the grain, and act out both day and night. Among these characters is Abe North who persistently does what he wants and says what he wants with no regard for social convention. The same can essentially be true of Dick towards the end of the novel; he too is liberal with his speech. He even gets into verbal altercations with friends and a fight with taxi random taxi drivers in Italy, which inevitably leads to his arrest. The overwhelmingly major reason that Abe and Dick become so candid and uninhibited is that they abuse alcohol. Abe North is in fact an alcoholic and towards the end of the novel Dick starts to become one as well. Alcohol impairs one's judgment and blocks one's inhibitions, and therefore it can be likened to a sort of permanent night.

Fitzgerald even acknowledges the freedom of the drunk: "There is something awe-inspiring in one who has lost all inhibitions, who will do anything. Of course we make him pay afterward for his moment of superiority, his moment of impressiveness" (108). Sober people admire and are envious of the drunk because they are not burdened with inhibitions and a desire to act in accordance with society, but in the same respect they punish the free for their actions, most likely out of jealousy.

Other characters that persistently go against society's standards, even during the day, are the patients in the insane asylum, most notably the young Chilean that Dick meets. The Chilean is quite obviously an alcoholic and a homosexual. He acts as he pleases and everyone therefore labels him as insane, but he sees no problem with his lifestyle and makes no concerted effort to "fix it."

The effect of the examples above is to not only display the stifling nature of society but to also show the consequences on those who cannot handle society's burden. If one does not fit in with social order they are labeled as insane and there is a struggle to "make them better." Those that cannot fit in with society's standards, but are not considered insane such as Abe North and Dick, must use alcohol, which gives them an excuse to act freely, in order to get by.

Finally, the novel has several key examples in which darkness plays the part of night and allows characters to act, as they normally would not during the day. An earlier example of this is at the luncheon where Dick and Nicole express their passion for one another in the darkness of the coat closet. Also, in the movie theater, almost immediately after the lights are lowered Dick starts whispering romantic things to Rosemary, despite the fact that Nicole is sitting further down in the same row. Finally there is the reoccurring statement of "Do you mind if I pull the curtain." This is a repeated fantasy Dick has about acting on passion with Rosemary in a train car, where he must pull down the curtains in order to block out the light. Again, in the light of day Dick would never act upon his passion, but in the false night of the darkness he would act freely.

As it is seen throughout Tender is the Night, there is continuously a dichotomy between the actions of the day and the actions of the night. The night, as established is by the use of Keats on the title page, is free from all but what is heaven sent; all the restrictive man made constructs of the day are gone and characters are free to as they please, on their emotions, passions and instincts. The day, however, is filled with pretension and stifling politics, consumerism and fighting. There is an effort to force night into the day by substituting darkness into its stead, but this effect is limited, and it is possible to say that those who cannot bear the pressures of society revert to alcoholism or are labeled as insane.