Connecting Babylon Revisited, My Life, and the Life of F. Scott Fitzgerald

Did you know “it is strictly forbidden to cross the river and look upon the place of the gods”-By The Waters Of Babylon. Stephen Vincent Benet wrote “By The Waters Of Babylon”. He introduces the priest and the son of the priest John. In “The Waters Of Babylon” there was a quest to be fulfilled, but no one was brave enough to fulfill that. John felt an internal passion to go on the quest. So at the end he gained knowledge that everyone was afraid of. The author “By The Waters Of Babylon” uses modern society as textual symbols which are spirits and demons, deer, and a door with a broken lock.

insight into his life and personality that he is not aware of giving. While the poet

This poem has a true meaning behind it. The meaning of it is of Antwone when he was little. He would cry himself to sleep. He would get beaten over an over again. It just kept building up and finally he cried for help on the inside. Luckily he got help from his psychiatrist before it was too late.

1. The main conflict in the novel is ‘man vs. society.’ Randy was constantly put against the highwaymen. Randy really wanted and was trying to create peace and order in Fort Repose post nuclear attacks while the highwaymen was using violence to get everything they needed.

“Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us.… Tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther.… And one fine morning—” (Fitzgerald 180). In this quote from The Great Gatsby, Nick attempts to describe the nature of Gatsby’s hope and draws the parallel to all of our hopes and dreams that we have as Americans. F. Scott Fitzgerald, an American novelist and short-story writer, was an amazing author who used his work, just like in the quote above, to write about the Roaring Twenties and the hopes of Americans during that time. His earlier works show an idealistic feeling for the potentials of life at college and in “The East,” he attained the sobriquet of “the spokesman of the Jazz Age.”

Knowing the historical context of a work is crucial to understanding both its general meaning and its deeper essence. Often times, authors use their works as outlets to freely express their personal feelings toward a social trend or issue. As such, the time in which a story is written can have a strong influence on the message the author is trying to convey to his or her reader. Their personal reflections can be asserted in many ways; among the most common being through the characters themselves and their development throughout the work, the setting, and the implied themes.

It is a common occurrence in today’s time to see people attempting to forget, change, or escape their past. However, one is never truly capable of completely escaping their past. Charlie Wells, the main character in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story Babylon Revisited desperately tries to escape his past and proves its impossibility to escape. During the 1920s, life was upright for Charlie, or so he thought. With a substantial amount of wealth, a wife, and a daughter, Charlie carelessly spends time and money on a lavish lifestyle without thinking of the consequences he may reap from his recklessness. While Charlie Wells lavish lifestyle manages to last an entire decade, it is halted by a crash in the stock market, a serious

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?

figure, and as a lawless and violent man, which at the end of the story, leads him to the death of

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “Babylon Revisited” contains many examples where chance works against Charlie in this short story. Three key examples are found inside the literary text and are similar because they show chance working against Charlie. The three examples are the stock market crashing, Charlie’s daughter’s guardian getting sick, and him running into people from his alcoholic past. All of these detailed examples in “Babylon Revisited” show how chance works against Charlie by not helping him regain the custody of his only daughter.

The poem seems to be narrative.  It conveys not only a story about his daughter, but a story of life, and paints distinctive images in the reader’s mind.

The author writes the story in a very interesting way. The way that there are only a few descriptions scattered about and that it focuses on dialogue is what allows us to figure out what the characters are speaking about and to find the intentions behind their words. The subject of this short narrative stands out boldly. Though it was written in

A) Charlie Wales is the protagonist and actually a very unusual type for Fitzgerald. He’s a ‘recovering’ alcoholic and has some dirty secrets. While he’s the protagonist he’s also his one antagonist because like the quote says ‘you are your own worst enemy.’ He still drinks, even if its one or two drinks, he still has tendencies to be self-destructive and that he doesn’t seem to give much thought about what he does, like when he left his brother-in-laws address for Duncan. Marion Peters is the other antagonist seeing as she is standing in-between Charlie and his daughter and that she also opposes him, but who wouldn’t at some points in the story.

F Scott Fitzgerald has been one of the most recognizable authors out there today. Many people admire his work, but he’s hard to catch and follow due to his busy schedule and personal lifestyle being an alcoholic. On the 19th of November 1925 I was given a chance to meet up with F. Scott Fitzgerald, to discuss about the eminent novel written by him “The Great Gatsby” at his house in Los Angeles. The books about a poor turned wealthy man, Gatsby and his attempt on getting his past lover back. What you’re about to read is one of the first few interviews ever with Mr. Fitzgerald in person. Below is the transcript of that interview.

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.