Distorted Perceptions in Fitzgerald's Tender is the Night Essay

What the readers know of Dick’s past is very little, as Capote works to characterize him through flashbacks the readers know it was his plan to kill the Clutters and he does have some family “there were those Dick claimed to love: three sons, a mother, a father, a brother—persons he hadn’t dare confide his plan to(Capote 106).” But Capote characterizes Dick more so through descriptions of his habits than through his memories. “Inez was a prostitute…she was eighteen and Dick had promised to marry her. But he had also promised to marry Maria, a women of fifty who was a widow of a very rich banker(Capote 118-119)” Dick is shown throughout the book as someone who uses people to get what he wants, he calls on Perry to help him with his plan, he uses women for sex and money while making promises he never intends to keep. “If he knew Dick, and he did—now he did—would spend the money right away on vodka and women(Capote 119). Capote does not draw any sympathy from the readers, Dick is perceived as an emotionless man who pretends to believe in people and want the same

In order to paint an image of Dick as a controlling and condescending killer, Capote uses a simile to describe his stature. On page thirty-one capote describes Dick’s physique:“as though his head had been halved like an apple, then put together a fraction off center.” (Capote 31). Because Dick is described as abnormal it helps Capote achieve his purpose of demonstrating that Dick was a true monster who changed and molded Perry from a man into a killer. Capote describes Dick in this way to set Dick apart from a normal human being. A normal person could not have changed someone but because Dick was not normal he was able to change Perry. Because Dick is not normal he will be seen as the true

Dick, the main character in Ragged Dick, is a man that fits every trait Alger describes in the story. He is a man who has a mediocre job, and is a very hard worker. Throughout the story, signs show us that Dick is a man who has ambition and is very determined to one day get away from his poor

He verbally demands to be removed from the conversation. He also subtly bullies Perry by calling him a baby for mentioning his worries. Dick finds Perry’s confusion and commentary rather irritating because it is a reminder of the murder.

The dynamic partnership between Dick and Perry stems from their egos, or lack thereof. Perry is especially self-conscious, and his behavior as presented in the book is due to his sense of lacking and

Over time, she falls deeper into her depression and longing for a time that no longer exists. Yet, she finds a man who treats her like gold and brings her all the food and clothes that he can smuggle to her. When Dick asks her what she misses most about home, she responds with the lilac tree and all the memories associated with it. In turn, he vows “One day, when this is over, I’ll plant you a lilac bush. Perhaps it will grow old and become a tree, like the one you remember” (144-145). This vow gives her the hope that she needs in order to keep going on her darkest days

Dick Hickock had an excellent family, but they did struggle with finances. He was an outstanding athlete and a good student. Dick was “An outstanding athlete-always on the first team at school. Basketball! Baseball! Football! Dick was always the star player. A pretty good student, too, with A marks in several subjects…” (Capote 166).“I think the main reason I went there (the Clutter home) was not to rob them but to rape the girl” (Capote 278).

He opened a savings account for himself and deposited all of the money he had, except for the correct amount to pay change to Mr. Greyson, whom he owed from a shine the prior day. In paying his debt to Mr. Greyson, he earned his trust and bought himself an invitation to Sunday school and eventually lunch with the gentleman and his family. This was the start to Dick’s better life of saving his money, renting his own room, and meeting Fosdick, his new friend and private tutor. One day he ran an errand with Fosdick for his employer and the two rode the ferry when they witnessed a young boy, the age of 6, fall of the edge of the boat and into the water. Dick, not hearing the father’s offer of a reward for anyone who would save his son, dove in to save the boy anyhow. Once the boy had been returned safely to his father, the father was so grateful to Dick that he took him to have his wet suit dried and provided him with a suit nicer than his original suit from Frank. Dick then went in to speak with the man, as per his request, and was offered a position in his counting room with a wage of ten dollars per week, considerably higher than his wage would be at any other store or counting room. Dick gleefully accepted his offer and lived content knowing how hard he had worked for this day.

Nicole, although beautiful and elegant, was flawed. Described by Dick as a ‘beautiful empty shell', she was the object of Dick Diver's romantic imagination. He took it upon himself, to obtain this ‘beautiful shell', despite the obvious problems and warnings from his associates. Looking at his ‘need' for her, it wasn't just love; it was also the need for a challenge and he put his entire effort into proving that Nicole could be changed. When he met Rosemary, things started to look up. Finally he had met a woman, although not as beautiful as Nicole, that was stable and independent. He took advantage of her love for him to experience what a relationship with two equal participants would be like. After he had tasted what a relationship like this was like, his dream became

The dynamic between Dick and Perry was always fragile and dominated by a need to determine who was more masculine, who was in charge. This is made easier by simply blaming the other one for any negative consequences. Dick and Perry weren't particularly fond of one another; they had differing hopes, long-term goals, and motives. A dynamic as fragile as this was easily shattered after their arrests, leading to quick confessions and a solution to the puzzling quadruple

Dick was written. He seems to exemplify expected behaviour of a young boot-black by his rough exterior, involvement in fights, lack of money, and disregard for others including their property. Micky Maguire is the enemy of the story, and it is clear that the “hero” must always rise above the bad characters in order to provide a lesson with the story being told. Dick is known to keep his cool and remain confident around Micky, even when a fight is breaking out between the two of them (Alger 94). While Micky is indeed a cruel boy as it seems, Dick does bring on some of the taunting himself because of the cocky manner he upholds when speaking to Micky. Even with Dick being smart-mouthed toward Micky, there is not any sympathy towards Micky in the novel because of his ruffian ways and rudeness towards Dick. Alger does not give Micky credit for why he acts like this towards Dick nor does he establish a true reason why Micky turned out to be such a tough street boy. His childish actions are likely caused by jealously over Dick and not because of sheer hatred (Alger 91). Micky is not given chances like Dick and whether or not Alger sets it up so that option luck is a rewarded behaviour,

      Before Diver becomes involved with woman, he is a Rhodes Scholar and a promising young Psychiatrist. By the end of the novel he is a middle-aged drunk chasing young women. Dick Diver, flaw credible, possesses

Instead, Dick felt ‘a discrepancy between the growing luxury in which the Divers lived, and the need for display which apparently went along with it. Dick feels trapped by Nicole’s money, and constantly tires to assert his independence from it, such as when he and Nicole started out together, he supported them on his few thousand a year. However, the Warren family undermined his independence, such as buying the Divers their clinic in Zurich, in order to protect Nicole. Nicole wants to own Dick, and once of the ways in which to do so is by her money (’Nicole, wanting to own him … encouraged any slackness on his part’). People see the Divers for their money, such as Franz Gregorovious with his plans for the clinic. It is not that Dick is adverse to the concept of money and wealth, but he feels that he has become trapped by Nicole’s riches (he ‘had wedded a desire for money to an essentially unacquisitive nature … he had never felt more sure of himself … than at the time of his marriage to Nicole. Yet he has been swallowed up like a gigolo, and somehow permitted his arsenal to be locked up in the Warren safety deposit vaults.’)

Jake Barnes was wounded during the First World War and as a result is rendered impotent. His injury keeps him from being with Brett Ashley, a woman he has loved for a very long time, but is unwilling to commit to Jake because she is unwilling to forsake her sex life. Dick Diver is a psychiatrist who has married a former patient, Nicole. Though ostensibly

At the beginning of the novel, book 1 presents us a perfect Diver family. Dick and Nicole Diver seem to be happy as if they were meant to each other: the perfect couple. We meet a pleasant and charming Dick Diver who knows how to handle every situation and take control over it in a very agreeable way. The lived near French Riviera at Villa Diana and liked to have social gatherings and parties with their friends and tourists on the beach, restaurants and also at their house. People admired Dick and felt