The Generation Elements of Jazz Age on Tender Is the Night

分析《夜色温柔》中爵士乐时代元素

American Literature

June 15, 2014

Abstract

American writer Fitzgerald is the creator of Tender Is the Night and regards continental Europe as the background of the story to describe a group of people in the United States. Although far from America, the work still has a strong the generation elements. This article is about the aspects of analysis through to the characters in the story the lifestyle of the moral beliefs and broken dreams that people want to pursue, combines with the exploration of the characteristics of the Jazz Age, extracting the strong Jazz Age characteristics in the novel.

Keywords: Jazz Age; Tender Is the Night; Fitzgerald

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The Generation Elements of Jazz Age on Tender is the Night

Often, a writer is a tribute to the witness of The Times. A work is the right record of an era. And we felt the turmoil of the Victorian era in Dickens's life; in Lawrence's works, we are feeling the anxiety and struggle caused by people to the industrial revolution era; in Hemingway's works and life, we can feel lost generation. Fitzgerald, his name is tied to Jazz Age in the 1920s.He was the “golden boy” of the generation, and his masterpiece The Great Gatsby wrote at all the time, so he was called the excellent chroniclers American Jazz Age. This paper aims to analysis and reveal elements embodied in the book of the era through the full color novel Tender is the Night, which has a good biography of the author.

American writer Fitzgerald defines the concept of Jazz Age, and in his work shows that the characteristics of the generation. The element analysis of Tender is the Night can help us better understand the United States in the 1920s and the age characteristics and the state of the author in the era.

Tender is the Night is a controversial novel of Fitzgerald. Since its launch in 1934, there is some harsher and heavy criticism by the American literary critics. This work is considered the structure with holes, there is confusion on system, lacking of the glorious of The Great Gatsby. Clifton felt the novel makes people disappointed, Malcolm Cowley originally thought this novel compose chaos, contradiction, characters. In 1951, editing this novel again, Professor Cowley changed the opinion of the novel, and began to dig its good things and a unique style. Arthur remarked it 3

combines author thinking of the novel with all literary talent. So starting point is to the details of comments, writing art technique and the analysis of the moral.

Many studies of the novel have greatly enriched our understanding to this novel, and broaden the thinking angle and field of vision, also enriched the studies of Fitzgerald. However, as a representative of the Jazz Age writers, Fitzgerald once mentioned that he can discover the social features that others didn’t find before writing the novel in the letter to Stein. This is seldom mentioned in the various studies. Although the novel described of the story happened in continental Europe, the writer fully represents the characteristics of the generation in the United States by describing a group of people life in the United States.

So-called Jazz Age, according to Fitzgerald, refers to the United States, from May 1, 1919 the riot of coming to the great depression in 1929, the stock market crash of the decade. He describes the atmosphere of the generation in one of his article:” This is an era of constantly surprises, this is an era of prosperity of art, this is a spendthrift era, this is an era of irony.” And he thought in the era of the dizzying, even bankruptcy also don't have to worry about money, the American dream can achieve, people can achieve personal ideal, as long as there is talent, destiny is in our own hands. The end of World War I broke the American faith in moral and reform, disrupted their beliefs and values, and they gradually lose themselves in the process of restoring, then more and more confused. These make the younger generation began to rebel against traditional taboo, and their elders are addicted to the flashing lights, speculative. In fact, in the 1920s, the great social changes have taken place in the 4

United States, also brought people in morality and behavior change.

Tender is the Night mostly happened in Europe, it is a few Americans with a series of stories in continental Europe, although far away from the United States, but also deeply tinged imprinting with America. The story, taking place in the United States in 1917 to 1930, showed it is still Jazz Age life scenes. A psychiatrist Dick and his patient wife Nicole enjoy the couple luxury life, with money, they have magnificent Diana villa on French beaches. Through the beach, a novel let us see the couple luxury by Mary’s eyes:”Mary had never seen theses fresh things which are the first luxury after the war, and perhaps just for the first batch of buyers having the sort of grandeur. When they travel, these also let us suddenly tongue. At the time of shopping with Mary, Nicole, in accordance with a big long list purchasing items in a total of two sheets of paper, bought all these things that are quite different from the purchase of a social butterfly. As we know a social butterfly buy lingerie and jewelry, on earth is the professional equipment and insurance, but Nicole’s procurement is of a different idea.

They played love, and ignored ethics, they hold noisy dances and parties, and looked forward to squabbling and tease banter between men and women in the party; Man came back home with being hurt the feelings, while women are fainted in the toilet. The first is incest between father and daughter leading to Nicole mental, and then salvation between Dick and Nicole with the combination of the irrational. Dick indulged in the feelings of the game with Mary:”he is now trying to make her want to go back to house over there, it is very difficult, but he did not want to lose her. He 5

happily joking with her, she only felt the wind that blows from her side.” Mrs. Spears even encouraged her daughter Mary to treat feelings with Dick as a kind of experience, regardless it might give Dick’s marriage destruction and damage, she has her only daughter, and let her have no consideration what will happen,” in fact, no matter what is likely to bring any harm to you, because economically, you are a boy, not a girl.” Although at that time of 18 years old, Mary is a child with no clear understanding with this emotion, as the growth of the age, the love of her admiration for Dick in the mother's encouragement would also develop into abnormal feelings, eventually leading to the betrayal of Nicole and Dick, also makes the Nicole two spirit recurrence, almost collapsed.

At the same time, as Nicole becomes healthier under the treatment of her husband, she begun to change with Tommy from original game developing to love each other and get married. She and Dick also are seen as a gross at that time in all level combination of inequality in its end of the story. Gay things also happen to the novel, which is also a feature of the jazz age that is the rebellion and shattered of traditional beliefs.

Tommy also belong to the war of be crushing the faith. He served to national war in the army, and didn't care why to fight, only care about treatment. In Mary’s eyes, Tommy is a poor upbringing, and he confidently has negotiations with Dick for taking away his wife

After the first world war in the United States, people addicted to the flashing lights, the phenomenon of alcohol is serious, in which we also found the shadow in 6

those activities on the continent of America people. Dick, a psychiatrist are not supposed to drink at work, but he has repeatedly drink while working, and make the patient's family for disappointment. His clinic Franz also eventually parted ways with him. He also beat the driver for alcohol in Rome and was detained by the police in the police station, and finally with the help of Barbie Warren, turned to the embassy and came out.

In Fitzgerald's definition, in addition to these decadent negative aspects the Jazz Age have some factors to forge ahead, such as the concept of the American dream, he thought that in this age, everybody's dream can be reached, as long as you are talented, as long as you go to struggle, but it also contains more or less dreamy color, that dream cannot exist for a long time, and its burst is just a matter of time, so for author, most of the American dream is disillusioned in the end. In his masterpiece The Great Gatsby, we saw Gatsby all the brilliant and successful by struggling for and collapse and disillusionment of dream.

In these stories, entanglements between people mostly occurred in continental Europe. The United States people are away from America, but are not far from the era of brand and influence, although there are a series of stories set in continental Europe. People still live in that kind of faith and influence, such as beliefs shattered, ignoring the moral, rebelling the traditions, but striving to forge ahead is always the disillusionment of American dream, which are the brightest light for these the Americans on the European continent. They are still the best dancer in the Jazz Age.

Works Cited

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i.

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iii. Cowley, Malcolm, and Robert Cowley, eds. Fitzgerald and the Jazz Age [M].New York: Scribners,1966. Mizener, Scott Fitzgerald and His World [M].New York: Putnam,1972. Curnutt Kirk, The Cambridge Introduction to F.Scott Fitzgerald . 2008. 8