Bring on the tough stuff - there’s not just one right answer.
- It’s widely known that F. Scott Fitzgerald believed that the rich were different than other people. Ernest Hemingway famously told him, "Rich people are the same as everybody else, but with more money." Does this debate play out in the novel? If so, which characters represent the other side of the argument?
- There is lots of gorgeous scenery in the novel, much of it natural. Is this just here for our pleasure, or is nature important to the themes of the novel? Is Nicole’s garden an important place? If so, why?
- If you were to write the sequel to Tender is the Night starring Topsy and Lanier, how would you imagine them? What passages in the novel lend credence to your predictions? Are these characters important to the novel? Why or why not?
- F. Scott Fitzgerald said, "Writers aren't exactly people...they're a whole lot of people trying to be one person." Doesn’t that sound a lot like Dr. Dohmler’s diagnoses of Nicole? Does Nicole’s illness represent the writing process? Where else do you see meta-fiction in the novel, and what is Fitzgerald ultimately saying about writing through these passages?