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Book 2, Chapter 17
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
Dick arrives in Innsbruck with just enough time to explore the town before dark. He thinks of Nicole “with detachment” but remembers a time when she had come to him, asking him to always remember the love they shared at that moment. He can’t determine the exact moment when it happened, but Dick knows that he has “lost himself” somewhere along the way, between meeting Nicole and Rosemary.
Although Dick harbors some nostalgia for his early days with Nicole, he finds it almost impossible to muster love for her these days. He is broken, tired, and lost as he travels around Europe alone.
Themes
Growing up the son of a humble parish priest, Dick had nurtured a “desire for money.” But this desire had been unhealthy, for it had allowed him to be “swallowed up like a gigolo” when marrying Nicole.
Dick’s dreams and ambitions for wealth and splendor ultimately led to his downfall. He sees now that he sold himself out to the Warren family—who have used him for many years—and now he has almost nothing left to show for himself.
Themes
Dick’s musings are interrupted when he spots the figure of a pretty woman he had noticed earlier that evening. Lately, he seems to fall in love with “every pretty woman he s[ees].” He wonders whether he should approach her, feeling “inept” and out of practice. The decision is made for him, however, when she turns to return to the hotel.
It appears that Dick no longer possesses the smooth charm and charisma that he used to have with women. He is older now, tired looking, and feels used up by the Warrens—thus, he lacks his former confidence to approach and hit on young women.
Themes
The following morning, Dick sets off on a hike in the mountains with a guide and two other men. He is enjoying the fresh pastures and his own “anonymity” when the weather takes a turn for the worse and the four men are forced to return to the Innsbruck. Back at the hotel, he spots the pretty girl once more, but this time he detects “approval” in her face. Dick wonders why—after a lifetime of experiences with pretty women—he feels the need to pursue new desires now.
Like a true psychiatrist, Dick pathologizes his own impulses to meet and seduce new women but comes to no new conclusions. The reader is presented with a sad picture of a middle-aged man staying alone in a hotel and hitting on much younger women.
Themes
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Upstairs in his hotel room, Dick continues to consider the implications of pursuing new, exciting love affairs when he notices a telegram he has ignored from Nicole. Opening it with a “sharp wince at the shock,” he learns that his father has died. Dick reflects on some happy childhood memories, remembering all that his father had taught him growing up. His father had had “a good heart” and “been sure of who he was.” Pacing up and down, Dick plans to take the boat back to America. He thinks of Nicole and regrets that “he had not always been as good as he had intended to be.”
The news of his father’s death comes at an interesting juncture in Dick’s life. Dick’s father, a humble priest, epitomized goodness, honor, and virtue, and Dick’s memory him spurs a resolution to be a better man.
Themes
