Babylon Revisited Assignment, Essay Example

The work of Scott Fitzgerald titled Babylon Revisited is a typical example of his modernist literary activity. The story about Charlie Wales who lost his wife, realized how dissolute his life used to be and came to Paris to seek custody over his daughter is highly similar to the life of Fitzgerald who also led a free life being on the verge of alcoholism and whose daughter also was in the custody of his sister-in-law. The traces of modernism can be felt in the main topics raised throughout the narrative – the disenchantment of people who lost everything at the time of the stock market crash, the depression that dominated the moods of people. These motives are felt in each dialogue, in each thought of heroes – they do not discuss anything but what they used to be before the fall and what they became afterwards.

Charlie is a protagonist who is miserable, lonely and seeking custody over the only close person he has in his life – his little daughter Honoria. The conflict is inside him and outside – in their family. First of all, Charlie is a former alcoholic who destroyed the life of his wife, this is why Marrion, Helen’s sistet, is so reluctant to give his daughter back to him. The unfortunate series of meetings with his former pals and drunkards convinces Marrion not to give Honoria to Charlie, so the conflict is in the lack of trust and the doubt in the possibility to start a new life after so many mistakes Charlie has committed.

At first it seems that Charlie has overcome the conflict and won the trust of Marrion despite the fact that she still blames him for her sister’s death. But he becomes the victim of circumstances and loses her trust because of his former friends who arrange a debouche in their apartment. Thus, Charlie is the character who raises sympathy – he tries to change his life, he shows real shame and repentance about his deeds. But it is the ghost of his former life that prevents him from getting his daughter back. It is not right to say that he got what he deserved because he behaves absolutely normally, but the morale of the story is that life cannot be changed so quickly, and the sins of his past will still not let him go.

References

Fitzgerald, S (1931). Babylon Revisited. Saturday Evening Post, 21 February.