Scott Fitzgerald\'s Character Dick Diver From Tender

Scott Fitzgerald's character Dick Diver from "Tender is the Night" takes on characteristics of both Jay Gatsby and Nick Carraway from "The Great Gatsby." Two sources. MLA.

Character Analysis of Dick Diver

Scott Fitzgerald was a mosaic of the characters he created. Fitzgerald, himself, can be found in Jay Gatsby, Nick Callaway, and Dick Diver. His own personal history reflects those he gave his characters, drinking habits, social status, and affluence (Brief pg). The life style of the 1920's in Paris is one that Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda experienced and is woven into his novel "Tender is the Night." Fitzgerald's stories often reveal the lives of the 'have's and 'have nots,' the lifestyle and near decadence of the rich compared to the common middle classes (Brief pg). Moreover, Fitzgerald always seems to distinguish between the 'old money' and the 'new,' the aristocrats and the nouveau rich. His writings reflect his awareness of his own middle class status and his struggle to overcome humble beginnings. Fitzgerald seems to model his 'old money' characters after Zelda's family and acquaintances, the comfortably rich, accustomed to protocol for all occasions (Brief pg). A theme that rings in most of Fitzgerald's work is one of inevitable truth. That no matter how successful one becomes, no matter how much money one may earn, no matter how well one learns to use the power of money and status, the true self inevitably surfaces sooner or later. Jay Gatsby, Nick Callaway, and Dick Diver all experience this moment of truth when they can no longer deny who and what they are.

Fitzgerald's character, Dick Diver, in "Tender is the Night," is a Yale graduate just as his character, Nick Callaway in "The Great Gatsby," is a Yale grad. Diver shows the same strengths in the beginning of the novel that Nick possesses. Both are educated, compassionate, and dedicated to achieving success in their chosen fields. Both demonstrate the care-taker role, often the confidant, often the one who cleans up the messes in the lives of those around them. Diver becomes Nicole's protective parent as well as her husband, always there for support and nurturing through her bouts with insanity. He is also the one others turn to for help when they are in trouble, such as when he helps his friend Abe when Abe is beaten and robbed. Then again he helps him and Rosemary by removing the dead body from Rosemary's room and smoothing things over with the hotel managers. Diver displays all the competence of a mature man, able to cope crisis and misfortune. His relationship with his wife also displays a sense of valor and chivalry, protecting her from herself and her past, he never betrays her personal torments to anyone, even in the face of one of her screaming spells. Diver always maintained an even keel, acting as if all was normal and well in the world. This attitude not only saved Nicole from embarrassing facts being made public, but it also gave a sense of comfort to those around them, such as guests who may have overheard Nicole screaming, saving them too from the embarrassment of confrontations. Callaway too, handled himself in much the same way, always the confidant and the one to make others at ease with themselves. Although, perhaps somewhat younger and more naive than Diver, Callaway demonstrated the ability to handle himself in awkward situations, seeming to smooth things over for all concerned. Both men were perceptive of human character.

Both Diver and Callaway share the bond of being in love with a woman that is rather unattainable. Diver is in love with Rosemary, a flirtatious young starlet and Callaway is in love with Jordan Baker, a sophisticated young woman of social status. Both men are smitten with their lovers to the point of melancholy and depression, a mental state that leads both to heavy drinking and social faux pas.

Diver and Callaway both find their way back to their true selves through the course of the novels. Diver loses everything, his practice, his wife, and his lover. Callaway witnesses the inner social circle of the elite and comes to terms with his own self-worth. The irresponsibility and egotism of the rich appalls Callaway in the end. Both Diver and Callaway learn that appearance is truly only skin deep. They learn that how one appears is very different from who they really are inside. The morals of the rich became unbearable for Callaway, he longed for his quiet life and true friends, no longer yearning for the fast life style of the rich and famous. Diver, discovers the price of success and the consequences of failure. He too, retreats to the quiet world of the middle class and rebuilds a life based on mediocrity, rather than status.

Fitzgerald gives Diver much of the same qualities that he gave Gatsby. Both men are obsessed with status and fame. Both men have a past that does not quite fit with the circle of people in which they find themselves included. Gatsby has acquired a life of wealth and status, surrounded with the finest things money can buy. He has become notorious for his parties and extravagance. Diver too, enjoys the good life, traveling Europe and living on the French Riviera. His crowd separates themselves from the tourists and wanna-bes, often snubbing them in public. Although, not always crass and rude, Diver always keeps a distance between his group of local residents and the others. In the beginning of "Tender is the Night," Rosemary remarks that there are two groups on the beach, the pales and the tans. Naturally, Diver's is the tanned group, the pales being tourists and what Diver's group views as boring and uninteresting, "Indeed, he had made a quick study of the whole affair, simplifying it always until it bore a faint resemblance to one of his own parties" (Fitzgerald 59).

Diver and Gatsby are both charismatic men, attracting people, especially women, like a magnet. Diver's wife Nicole is from the same social class as that of Gatsby's lover Daisy. Both women are poised and retain the need to be socially correct in every situation. Gatsby and Diver both admire these qualities. Although, Diver has a roving eye, he does truly admire his wife and her status. Gatsby is more obsessed in his admiration of Daisy. Being good enough for Daisy is all consuming for Gatsby. Obsessed with seeing Daisy again, "Gatsby gazed at a single green light, minute and faraway, that might have been the end of a dock" (Fitzgerald 22). He literally lives and breathes for her approval and love. Diver becomes infatuated with Rosemary to the point of jealousy, forcing him over the edge to consummate the relationship. Both Diver and Gatsby protect their lovers in time of trial. Although, when Diver removes the body from Rosemary's room he is displaying the care-taker characteristics of Callaway, he also encompasses Gatsby's gallantry, rescuing a damsel in distress, saving her reputation. Gatsby takes the blame for the car accident that accidentally kills a woman, when actually it was Daisy who was driving. This proved to be Gatsby's last gallant effort, costing him his life when the woman's husband, believing that Gatsby is to blame for her death, shoots him.