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Purpose Of Memories In Fitzgerald's Babylon Revisited

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The Purpose of Memories in Fitzgerald’s “Babylon Revisited” F. Scott Fitzgerald was one of the most prominent writers during the Jazz Age. His short story, “Babylon Revisited”, follows Charlie Wales reminiscing about his past life and attempting to regain what he lost after the 1929 stock market crash. Charlie returns to Paris and he is disappointed at how empty the city looks. His goal is to regain custody of his daughter, Honoria. However, this feat is difficult to overcome because of Lorraine’s temptations to bring Charlie back into his previous lavish lifestyle and Marion’s strong disapproval of Charlie. Ultimately, Charlie does not regain custody of Honoria and must wait another six months. Throughout the story, Fitzgerald retells Charlie’s …show more content…

Lorraine and Duncan remind Charlie of the past that he wants to forget. Charlie’s memories haunt him and always reminds him of his mistakes from his previous life. Similarly, Lorraine and Duncan follow Charlie around to serve as a temptation for Charlie to start drinking and partying. Thus, Lorraine and Duncan are walking memories for Charlie. When Fitzgerald introduces Lorraine and Duncan, he characterizes them as “ghosts out of the past” (Fitzgerald 217). The words “ghost” and “haunt” are used to describe how the memories impact Charlie. While Charlie is trying to turn his life around, his memories slow him down. For example, when Lorraine asks for Charlie’s address, “he hesitated, unwilling to give the name of his hotel” (Fitzgerald 217). Here, the walking memory, Lorraine, serves as a secondary conflict for Charlie. It is also shown that Charlie resists the memory to focus on his main goal. Additionally, memories characterize Lorraine. Lorraine reminds Charlie of “the night [they] stole the butcher’s tricycle” and “pedaled all over Etoile” (Fitzgerald 225). The memory shows how childlike Lorraine was and still is. However, the memory also demonstrates how Charlie changed. He is no longer childlike, but wants to step into adulthood. Thus, memories are used to characterize Charlie and Lorraine and to develop Charlie’s internal

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