Babylon Revisited By F. Scott Fitzgerald

In “Babylon Revisited,” a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the audience can clearly discern Charlie Wales’s thoughts and actions, for the third-person limited perspective they are allowed is focused on him. This, however, forces the reader to infer what the other characters are thinking and why they act in certain ways based on the context of the story. Throughout the text, Charlie Wales intends to prove he has fully recovered from his past mistakes, in hopes that Marion will feel the same way and in turn give him his child. He attempts to gain trust from the audience by establishing that he is no longer an alcoholic and does not participate in the reckless activities that he previously did. He believes this qualifies him to take care of

Then, at the end of her statement, Marion uses the excuse, “she was my sister,” to justify her grudge against Charlie. If she and Helen did not have a decent relationship, she would not be as likely to support her sister, and she would not care as much about Honoria. Marion has seen what Charlie can do while enraged, and she wants to defend her sister’s honor. By taking Honoria in, Marion displays the importance of family to her, for she could have just let Helen put Honoria in an orphanage until Charlie was out of the quarantine. Nevertheless, there is no question that Gross’s viewpoint of Marion has been unalterably affected by Charlie’s deception. Gross attacks Marion’s character because of her actions in the dilemma with Honoria and Charlie, and he defends Charlie through his criticism of Marion. If Fitzgerald did not use a perspective focused on Charlie, Charlie’s actions and motives could be perceived extremely

Through Charlie’s sole perspective in “Babylon Revisited,” Fitzgerald characterizes Charlie in a way that draws sympathy from the audience, while making some of the other characters appear to be enemies in Charlie’s situation. Because the story is told from a third-person perspective focused on Charlie, it is easy to side with him for lack of evidence on the opposing sides. Marion is especially characterized as a horrible person from Charlie’s point of view, and it is not difficult to look past the circumstances and go against her as well. That being said, if the reader looks at the story from outside of Charlie’s perspective, there is not much to say that he deserves what he wants. It is extremely possible that he will go back to his old ways, and there is a large possibility that he has ulterior motives for desiring Honoria. Many readers take Charlie’s side in the custody battle; however, several of them do not take into account the other people involved in the situation and their beliefs and emotions regarding the issue at