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Some weeks later, I'm turning this book over in my mind. I found such depth and nuance to it that it's still rewarding thought. Tom, that was lovely. I'm so glad you liked it. And for caleb, you might want to give The Great Gatsby a try. It's Fitzgerald's greatest novel and while I don't think it has the depth of Tender, it also doesn't have its flaws.
I'm still sympathetic to Dick. I think he can be seen as a Gatsby-type figure, one who flew too high and tumbled to earth. He transcended his upstate New York roots (and his losing Confederate ancestry). He worked hard, but he also got lucky, as we know from his being tapped for Bones and his "few ideas" that turned into a seminal text. Just the same, I think his life would have turned out as he planned, if not for his fatal meeting with Nicole on the funicular after he had done the right thing and walked away. Nicole sucked him dry. His struggles to maintain his integrity (buying his own shirts and re-wearing them!) were futile. I think his kindliness really was that, and one reason he was a good clinician.
In fairness to Nicole, their relationship was one of kill or be killed. Transference is one thing, but how do you manage being married to someone who is still managing your mental health? She could either look up to Dick or look down on him, but they met on the same plane only fleetingly (that funicular again, where we see the conductors having a brief interchange). I think Fitzgerald explicitly tells us that Tommy is her equal, when he describes the operation on his skull which leaves him vulnerable to a chance accident.
What I'm still struggling with is the theme of race. I think this is one of the flaws of the book; the theme is there but ultimately I don't know what Fitzgerald meant by it, which of course might be my own limitations. From the very first, we see that contrast on the beach between the tan skins of the Diver coterie and the pasty skins of the arrivistes. Then there's Jules Peterson, who sells shoe polish to Nordics! And whose death and Dick's reaction to it serves to highlight how Dick has lost his moral compass and is on his downward trajectory. Tommy is described as being so tan as to be Negroid. Finally, Mary North's marriage to someone of intermediate race and the excruciating scene where the Divers are fearful that somehow their son has been tainted by using the same bathwater of her stepson, as if race could rub off (the skin disease being only an excuse). And the daughter named Topsy!
Honestly, though, I have no idea what Fitzgerald was trying to achieve with all of this. Any insight would be appreciated.
I will reread this. I regret that I didn't take more notes of my favorite turns of phrase, but there were so many I felt as if it would be like the freshman who highlights almost everything on the page.
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