Tender is the Night Book One, Chapter Seven Summary

  • At the dinner table, Tommy, Abe, and Nicole discuss Abe’s trying to "saw" in half the waiter. It’s a joke, a play on words. The saw in question was Abe’s guitar.
  • Everybody is being sweet, except for Mr. McKisco. Rosemary likes everybody but him. She especially likes her mother and Dick. She feels like she’s come home.
  • Nicole and Dick seem to be getting bigger, more beautiful and more wonderful to the people they’ve invited.
  • In a bit, the dinner is over and both Nicole and Dick are missing.
  • Violet McKisco wants Rosemary to go to the bathroom with her, but Rosemary wants to stay at the table and wait for Dick. Violet goes alone.
  • Mr. McKisco and Barban are arguing. Barban says he’s "a soldier," that his "business is to kill people." McKisco says he himself is a communist.
  • Rosemary is just waiting for Dick to come back when Violet returns excitedly from the bathroom. She starts to tell everyone about a scene she saw in the Divers' house, but Barban stops her.