The Inescapable Past of “Babylon Revisited” by F. Scott Fitzgerald

In Babylon Revisited by F Scott Fitzgerald time is used to reinforce his theme of one’s past being inescapable. Through time it is seen where the main character Charlie’s past comes to haunt him in his present. References are made in time flying by and being lost due to the past indiscretions.

When drastic times occur and sweep one of everything they own, do they have a plan of action? Will they be prepared for a life without power, resources, and stability? Many times when people are faced with this situation they find themselves unprepared and unable to live in such conditions. They lose the connections with the world, the water they drink is likely to get contaminated, and the scarcity of goods is a threat to themselves and anyone left alive. Everywhere around them there is death and destruction leaving them isolated in their own dystopia. Pat Frank’s Alas, Babylon illustrates a nuclear bomb simulation. In such a way, he gives the readers a taste of isolation and survival needs when facing such drastic times.

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.

The point of view is ''third-person-objective''. This means the narrator doesn't have any insight of the characters thoughts and feelings. The story is being

1. From what point of view is the story written? How does this affect our understanding of the story? This story is written in first person point of view.

The pictures in the collage represent parts of the story, By the Waters of Babylon. This story is about a young man, John, a son of a priest. He goes on a journey east to The Place of the Gods, though it is forbidden. John believes it is his duty to explore and uncover the truth about this forbidden land. When John returns from his journey he wants to spread the truth, but his father warns him, “If you eat too much truth at once, you may die from the truth.”

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Babylon Revisited, Charlie is considered a tragic figure. A tragic figure is a protagonist (main character) that does not overcome his or her conflict in the story. For Charlie, his main goal in his trip to Paris is to get his daughter, Honoria, back. Honoria lives with Charlie’s sister and brother in law, Marion and Lincoln. At the end of the story, Charlie fails to get his daughter back.

The art of survival is not something that just anyone can master. The art of survival requires a person to possess many qualities, and in the book, Alas, Babylon the author Pat Frank shows his readers a few of the characteristics or qualities that may be important for a person to have in order to survive. “The strong survive. The frail die,” (176) writes Frank as he had recognized that survival simply is not for everyone. In Alas, Babylon, and few qualities that people had to possess in order to survive included: strong leadership skills, the reality of what truly matters in a time of crisis, the ability to protect themselves and the people that matter most, and the ability to distinguish right and wrong.

“Babylon Revisited” by F. Scott Fitzgerald teaches the reader that the past can affect the future. The main character, Charles Wales, is a man who lost the custody of his child due to alcoholism and whose wife has died. The story starts off this his new start, he rarely drinks and is set to be a better person and have his daughter (Honoria) in his life once more. Charles, who is also addressed as Charlie, comes back to the city of Paris where he once has partied and surely the memories of his past are brought up. No matter how much he has believed to have changed, his alcoholic past is a topic sent creating the future he would rather not live in.

The contrast of the two settings in ‘By the Waters of Babylon’ helps to reveal the story’s purpose. At the Place of the Gods, John finds out their technology is more advanced than his peoples. When John arrives he observes, “There was a cooking-place but no wood, and though there was a machine to cook food, and there was no place to put fire in it” (Benet 65). This technology that John observes is our oven but he does not know what that is. His people used a simpler version that uses fire as a heat heating source instead of electricity.

During F. Scott Fitzgerald's short story "Babylon Revisited" and his novel The Great Gatsby, he writes many similarities between the two characters Jay Gatsby and Charlie Wales. Both characters are known for their lavish lifestyles as well as their lack of appreciation for money. Jay Gatsby describes feeling ashamed of himself and his past, due to growing up poor. Charlie Wales also felt a sense of shame due to being an alcoholic, losing his wife and eventually giving up custody of his daughter. F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays the characters to be quite persistent as well. With Jay Gatsby, he tries to rekindle his relationship with a woman named Daisy, while Charles Wales seeks custody of his daughter; these two also share a very similar drive when it comes to the ones they love. With the equivalence of these two characters being their lavish lifestyles, feeling ashamed and having a very persistent attitude, F. Scott Fitzgerald allows these two characters to develop a very deep connection .

A man, Charlie Oakley, in Philadelphia is in lying in his bed, when his landlady informs him that a couple of men want to talk to him. He refuses to receive these men but later decides to go for a walk, the men follow Charlie but he manages to escape. Meanwhile, a young woman, Charlie Newton, is also lying in her bed in Santa Rosa, she complains with her father, Joe, about their boring lives. She thinks that asking her Uncle Charlie, with whom she shares a special bond, to come to visit them would make their lives more exciting. Young Charlie decides to send a telegram inviting her uncle to her home. At that time, her mother, Emma Newton, receives a telegram from Uncle Charlie, her brother, announcing he is on his way to the Newton residence.

First of all, the point of view the story is written in is third person omniscient, as in the narrator knows the thoughts and feelings of the characters. The author begins to use signs

‘Babylon Revisited’ was written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1930 and published on February 21, 1931. ‘Babylon Revisited’ is loosely based in Fitzgerald’s life events, exploring the cycle of addiction in alcoholism and being valiant enough to face past demons.

They say that it is hard to get away from the past in the short story “Babylon Revisited” by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Is about a men named Charlie Wales who is troubled by his past however, he tries to escape away form America, but comes to realize that no mater where Charlie goes he cannot avoid his past. The reason being because in his recent move to Paris Charlie can only go to certain parts of Paris where they are do not serve alcohol or are open late. The main part of this is that Duncan and Lorraine are always inviting him to have a drink or go out and eat. Almost like the good old day’s. The main theme of the short story is that the past will always be the past, and it is virtually impossible to escape due to the fact that Charlie is bombarded