Tender Is The Night Allusions

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novels explore the various types of relationships which different social classes involved themselves in throughout the 1900s. Although characters attempt to surround themselves with people of different societies and classes, many of those relationships fail due to the high contrasts between the various characters. In both novels, marriage includes much more than just love; wealth, social class, family, and land are key components in choosing a significant other. Tender is the Night depicts the unexpected nature of love, which elucidates the lost innocence of society and corrupt definition of love in the 1930s. This Side of Paradise focuses on the lives of the youth searching for positivity and the meaning of life after

Amory has a difficult time being proud of himself, but after he executes something adequate and noteworthy, he sees his success as something that deserves to be compared to great things. Tender is the Night has few subtle allusions, predominantly relating to John Keats’ poetry, which Fitzgerald thought very highly of and often admired. The title of the novel, the imagery of the moon, and the mention of nightingales throughout the novel are almost all allusions to Keats’

Alcoholism is a prime subject which occurs throughout all of his novels, correlating to his life since he himself had drinking problems. In Tender is the Night, Nicole and Dick seem like the perfect couple, but as the story progresses the reader is introduced to dark truths about the two, and their marriage crumbles and fails. Dick’s drinking problem and his inability to resist young women is what causes his personal decline, and he eventually has to face the consequences of his actions. In This Side of Paradise, Amory struggles to find true love after World War One. After turning to alcoholism once Rosalind breaks up with him, Amory’s life begins to spiral out of control. Both of these novels demonstrate how the 1920s was both beautiful and damaging to American