Abstract:Fitzgerald consciously creates Tender Is the Night in Keats-like romantic style so that its writing style is as beautiful as poetry. He criticized the American dream in the novel through his characteristic use of symbols. And the symbolism in the novel is unique and perse in that the symbols he used contain compound meanings and some of them are quite ironic in representing the reality of the society, and most of all, they serve the theme of American dream well, all of which helps to make the style of Tender Is the Night extremely distinctive.

Key words: F. Scott Fitzgerald; Tender Is the Night; symbolism; American dream

《夜色温柔》中的象征主义分析

摘  要:《夜色温柔》是菲茨杰拉德完成的第四部也是最后一部小说。它近乎反映了菲茨杰拉德和他的妻子泽尔达的生活，因此有时被视作一部半自传体小说。菲茨杰拉德在创作《夜色温柔》时有意识地模仿了济慈式的浪漫主义风格，因而该作品风格像诗歌一样优美。他通过大量的象征性描写来批判美国梦。这些象征手法独具特色，他所使用的象征意义具有复合的含义，其中一些颇具讽刺，讲述了社会的现实。这些多种多样的、独具特色的象征手法，服务于美国梦的主题，使《夜色温柔》的风格与众不同。

关键词：司各特·菲茨杰拉德；《夜色温柔》；象征主义；美国梦

Contents

1. Introduction 1

1.1 The Background of Tender Is the Night 1

1.2 The Influence from John Keats and his “Ode to a Nightingale” 1

1.3 Symbolism and Its Use in Tender Is the Night 2

1.4 Research Purposes 3

1.5 Researches from Home and Aboard 3

2. Symbolic Descriptions in Tender Is the Night 5

2.1 Light and Dark: A Struggle from Dream and Reality 5

2.2 Riviera: A Dreamland to Chase and A Place to Escape from 7

2.3 Other Characteristic Symbolic Descriptions 8

2.3.1 The Names or Titles of the Characters 8

2.3.2 The Behaviors of the Characters 9

3. The Characteristics of the Symbolism in Tender Is the Night 11

3.1 The Multiple Symbolic Meanings of the Symbols 11

3.2 The Symbolic Images Highlight Social Significance in the Connection with Nature 11

3.3 The Simultaneous Use of Symbolism and Irony 11

Conclusion 12

References 13

1. Introduction

1.1 The Background of Tender Is the Night

Firstly published in 1934, Tender Is the Night is the fourth and final novel completed by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The title is taken from the poem “Ode to a Nightingale” by John Keats. According to Matthew Bruccoli’s research, before the publication of the novel, Fitzgerald had revised it for several times (Bruccoli, 1963). And in Fitzgerald’s notes of around 1938, he revealed that he hoped to publish an edition whose story started with the development of Dick Diver’s career rather than Rosemary Hoyt. Though he did not finish this edition, ten years after his death, the publishing company published the 1951 version. Thus Fitzgerald left people two versions of Tender Is the Night. Yet influenced by Bruccoli’s long-term researches and persuasive comments, the original version is much more widely accepted. This thesis also adopts the original version.

The whole novel are pided into three books. The first book begins with Rosemary Hoyt, who is a young girl, an American actress, and our protagonist Dick Diver’s lover. This part contains the couple Dick and Nicole Diver’s life in the South of France with a circle of friends. Rosemary becomes infatuated with Dick and becomes close to Nicole. Dick toys with the idea of having an affair with Rosemary.The second book tells Dick’s career as a doctor and psychiatrist. Dick’s marriage stars with his treatment to Nicole and his career becomes a sacrifice of this morbid marriage. The third book ends Dick’s affair, his marriage, his career and all his floundering life.

Tender Is the Night almost mirrors the life-changing events in Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda’s lives, sometimes regarded as a semi-autobiographical novel. In 1932, Fitzgerald’s wife Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald was hospitalized for schizophrenia in Baltimore, Maryland. In order to take care of his wife, Fitzgerald rented the “La Paix” estate nearby. While working on the book, Fitzgerald was beset with financial difficulties. He borrowed money from both his editor and his agent and wrote short stories for commercial magazines. These experiences were artistically processed and brought into this story. Similarly, his marriage was destroyed by Zelda’s illness and his alcoholism when this novel was published, which met the plot that the main character Dick Diver failed in his career and marriage because of his wife’s mental illness and his addiction to alcohol.