The distortion of love and its existence can be deceitful. This is seen in the idealization of love within F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Tender is the Night. It is a significant theme portrayed throughout the novel and helps to showcase the faults in misconceiving this particular affection. The main characters, Dick Diver, Nicole Diver, and Rosemary Hoyt, each express this phenomenon with their intertwining relationships. They each seek their own quintessential version of happiness and hope to achieve this by seeking partners who exemplify these qualities. They then struggle with deciphering between their ideals and reality. The character’s inner thoughts and emotions prove that their idealization of each other is disguised by their skewed perception
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Her father’s passing leaves a hole in the life with the absence of a father figure. Rosemary's mother, Elsie Speers, becomes the sole object of her affection for years until Dick. Therefore, she had always been seeking a man to fill that role and offer her security. She glamorizes the idea of falling in love with a suitable man who can provide for her where her father had not. From the moment she falls in love with Dick, she immediately seeks the approval of her mother. She needed to know he would suit her and her mother’s ideal. Later on, the text reveals that, “For three years, Dick had been the ideal by which Rosemary measured other men and inevitably his stature had increased to heroic size,” (Fitzgerald 211). She had perceived Dick as a wondrous combination of class, mannerism, and was drawn to the glamour of his life. She craved that and even began falling for Nicole as well, possible idealizing their marriage. Her true emotions are concealed by her desires and aspirations in life, so she believes herself to be in love with the man. Rosemary is young and naive, she ignores Luis Campion’s tearful message prior to Tommy Barban and Albert McKisco’s duel”: ”It’s better to be cold and young than to love,” (Fitzgerald 41). Rosemary yearned to be in love, so therefore she
Her father’s passing leaves a hole in the life with the absence of a father figure. Rosemary's mother, Elsie Speers, becomes the sole object of her affection for years until Dick. Therefore, she had always been seeking a man to fill that role and offer her security. She glamorizes the idea of falling in love with a suitable man who can provide for her where her father had not. From the moment she falls in love with Dick, she immediately seeks the approval of her mother. She needed to know he would suit her and her mother’s ideal. Later on, the text reveals that, “For three years, Dick had been the ideal by which Rosemary measured other men and inevitably his stature had increased to heroic size,” (Fitzgerald 211). She had perceived Dick as a wondrous combination of class, mannerism, and was drawn to the glamour of his life. She craved that and even began falling for Nicole as well, possible idealizing their marriage. Her true emotions are concealed by her desires and aspirations in life, so she believes herself to be in love with the man. Rosemary is young and naive, she ignores Luis Campion’s tearful message prior to Tommy Barban and Albert McKisco’s duel”: ”It’s better to be cold and young than to love,” (Fitzgerald 41). Rosemary yearned to be in love, so therefore she