Analysis Of ' Babylon Revisited ' By F. Scott Fitzgerald

The American Dream, which remains till today, bases itself upon assiduousness and high morals. Many people from foreign and faraway countries view this "dream" as a reality and believe that America upholds these high standards. Yet, Fitzgerald clearly writes this novel to show that the linchpin that kept the dream alive has eroded away.

Fitzgerald depicts 1920’s America as an age of decline in traditional social and moral values; primarily evidenced by the cynicism, greed and the relentless yet empty pursuit of prosperity and pleasure that various characters in The Great Gatsby exhibit. He presents a society in which uninhibited consumerism, materialism and an all-pervading desire for wealth have perverted the previously righteous qualities of the American Dream, corrupting it in the process.

Which would you value more-knowledge, or truth? Stephen Vincent Benét explores this question in his short story “By the Waters of Babylon”. However, Benét doesn’t answer this question exactly, instead “By the Waters of Babylon” focuses more on a singular theme that knowledge and truth are intertwined. Benét brings the reader into a post-apocalyptic world where humans have resorted to a more primitive state after the “Great Burning”(310). Now the only humans left with any knowledge are the Priests, and John happens to be the son of one. John has been exposed to the only remaining knowledge that he’s been told his society has at that the time and now quest for more. This burning desire that John has to know more of

Gatsby believed wholeheartedly that his happiness lay in the chance of reuniting with Daisy, but she was unfortunately unable to live up to his obsessive and arguably overwhelming dream. In fact, Gatsby himself becomes so engrossed in his “American Dream”, that when Daisy’s rejection comes, his life seems to lose all its purpose in the absence of his obsession. Perhaps even his former warm view of the world was lost as he lay in the pool, waiting for Daisy’s phone call, and “looked up at an unfamiliar sky.” This shows us how obsession can take over one’s life, wielding a complete unhealthy control over our emotions and actions. On the critical side, it is also showing us that the American Dream, which was once a genuine, pure aspiration for advancement, has, for many people, turned into a greedy desire and obsession for wealth and material goods. As well as the unrealistic notion of equal opportunity for all, Fitzgerald is suggesting that what was once “a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable”- as coined by U.S writer James Truslow Adams- has evolved into a dense objective of achieving personal material comfort. Although Gatsby claims that he did everything for Daisy, there is the underlying question; was his bootlegging really all for Daisy’s love, or was it for his own ideal life that he dreamed of- a life of luxury, aesthetic appeal and a beautiful woman? Fitzgerald is criticising the corruption of what was idealised to be a world of freedom, equality and opportunity. Instead of striving for an improved, richer and fuller life for the country as a whole, society has turned into a battle between individuals to get to the top and appear the most

"Scott Fitzgerald’s Criticism of America,by Marius Bewley." The Sewanee Review, 1954. Web. 5 July 2015. .

The culture of the wealthy Americans represented in The Great Gatsby was defined mainly by consumerism and excessive material wealth. Wherever given the opportunity, Jay Gatsby went over the top, as shown in his flamboyant style of dress and his huge mansion where he throws lavish parties. This is actually not all that different from Fitzgerald’s life. After his first work was published to great fanfare, Fitzgerald was the talk of the town. As was the case with Gatzby, many of those around him did not – and never would – actually know Fitzgerald. They wished merely to be close to someone famous. Fitzgerald shunned all the attention, eventually moving to France. It was there that he looked at the supposed American Dream from a different perspective. To Fitzgerald, it was clear that the sudden wealth that many Americans began to acquire caused leisure and idleness to replace traditional ethics like hard work as qualities that were admired. (Decker, 28) Certainly the Buchanans and Gatsby cared little about hard work once they had achieved their material goals.

In America the repercussions of World War 1 resulted in, the roaring twenties, a time period characterized as an era of economic prosperity. The stock market sky-rocketed, advances in technology were distinct and demands were shifting, but what value prominently elevated above everything else? Wealth. The widespread wealth was desired and people valued social class with such high regard that to attain these two fixations became the standard “American Dream” of the 1920’s. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s depiction exposes an era of poor social and moral values, and it was a miserable desire for wealth that progressed this. Fitzgerald utilizes the setting, a combination of the time period and geography, to reveal the message that it became

In both I Am Legend and “By the Waters of Babylon,” the author and the director have very comparable styles when it comes to certain aspects of their work. The theme of both the film and the story revolve around the idea of humanity destroying itself due to the misuse of power and misunderstanding of the knowledge they had acquired. On the contrary, the mood in I Am Legend and “By the Waters of Babylon” are vastly different. In the film, the viewer feels the pain and loss embodied by Robert Neville himself; while in the story, John didn’t have any personal losses related to the catastrophic event that overtook those before him. Therefore the reader doesn’t connect to John in the same empathetic

Having an addiction can be an agonizing and insufferable adventure anyone can ever face. It usually starts small with a “I’ll try it once”, then eventually becomes a fully developed addiction. In Babylon Revisited by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Sonny’s Blues by James Baldwin, both poems portray blindness verses sight. Babylon Revisited is about a man named Charles Wales who returns to Paris and is on a mission to regain custody of his daughter while being blinded by his addictions whereas Sonny’s Blues is about a narrator and his younger brother Sonny. Sonny gets arrested and tries to explain his suffering and how his addictions was his escape but his brother (the narrator) is blinded by Sonny’s addictions as well. The purpose for writing this paper is to explain how the imagery of blindness verses sight is similar and different in both Babylon Revisited by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Sonny’s Blues by James Baldwin using their addictions. Both poems show how an addiction can create a barrier or prevent progress which makes it harder to overcome. In most cases it was the characters themselves preventing their progression in my opinion. For this reason, a question to consider is; was addiction actually blindness to both Sonny and Charles or was this just an escape from pain?

It is evident that Fitzgerald admires the pursuit of the ‘American Dream’, for he uses beautiful imagery, “a fresh, green breast of the new world”, “trees that had made way for Gatsby’s house”, “a transitory enchanted moment man

The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris, by David McCullough, tells of the first significant Americans who travel to Paris in the late 1920’s through the 1930’s. “David McCullough has stressed France’s pre-eminent role in American history for years. We would not, he has argued, have a country without the French, who have permanently and profoundly shaped us” (Schiff 2011, NY Times). Chapters one and two, which will be the focus of this paper, introduces numerous characters and begins the overall movement of the novel. James Fenimore Cooper was the first to leave and “departed well ahead of the others, in 1826,when he was thirty-seven”

     F. Scott Fitzgerald is seen as one of the greatest American writers, admired by his contemparies and by modern audiences of today. Fitzgerald was very much in tune with the early twentieth century American culture. He is credited with capturing the ‘Jazz Age’, which he described as “a generation grown up to find all Gods dead, all wars fought, all faiths in man shaken”. Fitzgerald observed the culture around him with a critical eye. Despite being able to depict America like few others could, many see Fitzgerald’s writing as an indictment on its values.

There are times when reality falls short of expectations, and when individuals fail to live up to their ideals. This struggle can come in the form of one specific event, or an overall life philosophy. The quest to attain what we really want can be an all encompassing one, requiring all of our devotion and effort. It is especially painful to see others possess what we cannot have. For the characters in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby these problems are all too real. Gatsby works for a lifetime to gain back what he feels is rightfully his, while all the while facing the crushing realization that he may be too late. Fitzgerald uses this futile search to introduce the idea that the idealized America Gatsby fought for has been corrupted over

The main theme in the short story “Babylon Revisited” is that you can’t repeat the past. Charlie has a lot of hope for the future, but his guilt from the past catches up with him. He tries to forget about the Paris he used to know, but memories from the past haunts him throughout the story. His past is inescapable and he has to pay great debts when the party comes to an end. “Babylon Revisited”, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald was published in 1931. The story is greatly affected by the time period it was written in, and by what was going on in Fitzgerald’s life.

After World War I, America offered the potential for boundless financial and social opportunities for those willing to work hard—an American Dream. The American Dream is defined as someone starting low on the economic or social level, and working hard towards prosperity and or wealth and fame. Establishing fame, becoming wealthy, having lavish luxuries, and a happy family would come to symbolize this dream. For some, however, striving for and realizing that dream ruined them, as many acquired wealth only to pursue pleasure. Even though the characters in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby appear to relish the freedom of the 1920s, their lives demonstrate the emptiness that results when wealth and pleasure become ends in themselves. Specifically, the empty lives of three characters from this novel— George Wilson, Jay Gatsby, and Daisy Buchanan—show that chasing hollow dreams results only in misery.