An Analysis Of Identity Construction In Tender Is The Night From The Perspective Of Spatial Narratives

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald,as one of the most influential American writers in the twentieth century,is the spokesperson of the Jazz Age,the representative novelist of Lost Generation.Fitzgerald published his fourth novel Tender Is the Night in 1934.The novel mainly tells about the fall of the mentally ill characters in the American society in the 1920 s.As one of Fitzgerald’s most representative works,the novel has been studied from many different perspectives.The thesis has analyzed the identity of three characters in terms of social space,physical space,and mental space based on Lefebvre’s spatial criticism theory.This thesis consists of three parts.The first part is a general introduction,which mainly introduces F.Scott Fitzgerald,his creative experience,and his work Tender Is the Night.In addition,this part provides a review of the domestic and foreign literature related to Tender Is the Night in detail,thus clarifying the research direction and significance of this thesis.Finally,the theoretical basis of this thesis introduces Henri Lefebvre’s spatial criticism theory and explains the rationality and effectiveness of using the theory of spatial criticism to interpret the identity problem.The main part analyzes the pursuit and failure of identity construction in Tender Is the Night in three chapters.The first chapter reveals the identity crisis of the characters and its causes in social space.Space is productive and contains abstract social attributes and different social relations.In Tender Is the Night,the change of characters’ social relations with their family is the main cause of their identity crises.The second chapter focuses on the identity pursuit of the characters in physical space.The mobility of identity is reflected in the ever-changing physical space.Space is no longer regarded as an independent entity,but the multiple social and cultural attributes behind it are analyzed.In Tender Is the Night,the physical spaces that characters live in are oppressive to some extent,which urges them to get rid of the shackles of the current space through the shift of geographical space,thus completing the identity pursuit.The third chapter discusses how the characters fail to realize the identity reconstruction in mental space.Mental space is an individual’s representation of the objective world,which reflects the subjective experience and active response of the subject.Physical space and social space have further shaped the individual’s mental space.The process of characters’ inner changes reflects their cognitive changes of identity and their attempts and efforts to realize identity construction in mental space.The last part is the conclusion of the thesis.By analyzing the multi-dimensional space in Tender Is the Night,that is,physical space,social space,and mental space,this thesis explores the identity problems faced by the characters in the novel.Through the portrayal of Dick,Nicole and Rosemary,Fitzgerald shows identity dilemma of the post-war American generations.