Self-identity Crisis In F.Scott Fitzgerald’s Tender Is The Night

Tender Is the Night,as one of Fitzgerald’s most representative modernist works,profoundly reflects the impact of World War I on American society and the dramatic changes of 1920 s American life.Through the portrayal of Dick,Nicole and other characters suffering from mental illness,Fitzgerald deeply reflects on the identity crisis brought by the Great War and the social vicissitude.However,for a long time,most critics have examined the pathological characters in Tender from the perspectives of Freudian psychoanalytic theory,trauma theory,feminism or autobiographical criticism,while little attention has been paid to the identity crisis conveyed by their mental illness.This thesis,with the interactive relationship among Fitzgerald himself,the Great War and the dramatic changes of the 1920 s American life as the starting point,with the self-identity theory of Erik H.Erikson and Anthony Giddens as guidance,attempts to examine the self-identity crisis of the two protagonists Dick and Nicole of Tender and their different strategies in coping with it.Through a detailed interpretation of this work,this thesis reveals two contradictory views of identity in America of the 1920s:the traditional perception of identity with “good instinct,honor,courtesy,and courage”as the core values and the modern performative identity dominated by the consumer culture.And in the social changes of the 1920 s,the traditional concept of identity is giving way to the modern one.The first chapter expounds the specific symptoms of the hero and heroine’s mental illness of Tender based on Erikson and Giddens’ s theories about self-identity crisis.Firstly,the war not only destroys Dick’s “old safe world”,but also makes him a“shell-shock” patient,haunted by war dreams,unable to balance the relationship between work and family,falling into the dual role confusion of “husband” and“doctor”;and finally getting addicted to alcohol through which he can find a temporary sense of biographical continuity.Secondly,the female protagonist Nicole’s incestuous relationship with her father divorces her from the traditional trust context of kinship systems,which destroys her sense of ontological security and basic trust,and makes her lose the foundation of self-identity.Nicole thus suffers from schizophrenia which is mainly manifested as hysteria and apathy.The second chapter explores the social and historical causes of the self-identity crisis.On the one hand,the First World War not only destroys the long-cherished idealism and traditional values of the American citizens,but also transforms the post-war America into a risk society,full of insecurity and instability,and people are eager to return to the stable pre-war world.On the other hand,the social progress divorces the American citizens from their traditional trust contexts and stable environment and throws them into one of constant change.Giddens believes that the local community,kinship system,religious cosmology,and tradition are the four regional contexts that maintain the sense of security and basic trust of pre-modern people.However,in the 1920 s America,with the popularization of modern vehicles such as automobiles,the rise of Youth Culture,the decline of religion and traditional moral values,people were gradually separated from their familiar trust contexts and fell into anxiety about their ontological security.Living in such a dilemma where the old stable world has been lost and the new world is changeable,American people in the1920 s were asking themselves: “Who am I? What will I become?”The third chapter focuses on how the two protagonists deal with their self-identity crisis.In Tender,Fitzgerald not only presents the individual’s self-identity crisis through mental illness but also reveals two different strategies they adopt to cope with the crisis.Dick Diver,as the product of traditional values and representative of the old generation,attempts to reconstruct the continuity and integrity of self-identity through“nostalgia”,which is,the reconstruction of the past and traditional values.However,Dick’s self-identity reconstruction is deconstructed by his idealism.On the contrary,Nicole,as the product of bourgeois culture and representative of the younger generation,embraces the values of the rising modern consumer culture.Through conspicuous consumption and sucking Dick’s “energy”,Nicole realizes herself-reconstruction.Nevertheless it should be noticed that Nicole’s self-reconstruction is ironic,through which Fitzgerald criticized the selfish and indifferent nature of the upper-class.All in all,by analyzing the protagonists’ mental illness,this thesis examines Fitzgerald’s reflection on the living and mental states of the post-war American generations.Through the portrayal of Dick and Nicole,Fitzgerald shows people’s identity dilemma brought by the social and historical changes,and also expresses his tragic views that the traditional definition of identity will eventually give way to the modern one.