Abstract: This thesis, by analyzing the protagonist Dick Diver’s mental state and the social and cultural diseases reflected in the novel, tries to probe into the theme of anxiety in Tender Is the Night. It argues that Dick’s anxiety is caused by his characters and lack of belongingness, the indifference of the upper class, and the disillusion of his American dream. Dick once has a negative attitude towards anxiety and tries to escape hopelessly from it, but finally he overcomes it by facing it constructively. The thesis also points out that Dick’s anxiety is the mirror image of the pervasive but hidden anxiety in American culture and society in the 1920s. It concludes that Dick’s idling and the laissez-faire attitude of the upper class towards life not only indicate the anxiety and a void in mentality of people at that time but also expose the cultural and social disease existed in America in the roaring twenties.

Key words: Fitzgerald; Tender Is the Night; anxiety; Dick; the Jazz Age

CONTENTS

Abstract

摘要

1. Introduction  1

  1.1 Introduction to Fitzgerald

1.2 Introduction to Tender Is the Night

2. Anxiety :A Sign of Individual Mental State of Dick Diver  2

  2.1 Dick’s Anxiety

2.2 Causes of Dick’s Anxiety

   2.2.1 Character of Dick

   2.2.2 No Sense of belonging

   2.2.3 Disillusion of Dick’s American Dream

   2.2.4 Indifference and Selfishness of the Upper Class

2.3 Dick’s Response to Anxiety

   2.3.1 Trying to Save Others 

   2.3.2 Destructive Self-striving in Degradation 

   2.3.3 Constructive Attitude Towards Death and Anxiety

3. Anxiety: Social and Cultural Diseases Reflected in Tender Is the Night.11

3.1 Reflection of American Cultural Condition in the 1920s 

3.2 Anxiety Hidden in the Thriving Society of America

4. Conclusion

Bibliography.

Acknowledgements