Babylon Revisited Summary

The concluding paragraphs of Francis Scott Fitzgerald’s “Babylon Revisited” (rpt. In Greg Johnson and Thomas R. Arp, Perrine’s Literature: Structure, Sound & Sense, 12th ed. [Boston: Wadsworth 2015] 199-216) provides the opportunity for much discussion and viewpoints from readers. After a long period of absence, and a heavy discussion with his brother and sister-in-law, Charlie Wales feels confident in gaining his daughter, Honoria, back. However, matters take a turn for the worst when a familiar couple, Duncan and Lorraine Schaeffer, make an appearance and ruins everything. The interesting part that comes into play is how Charlie is confused about how Duncan and Lorraine found out where the Peters lived. Many questions arise, which gives the story a puzzling finish, and also an interesting topic to discuss. The story carefully foreshadows the

Charlie spends the evening with the Peters again, only to be interrupted by his dooming fate. The story explains how Charlie “shook hands with them (Duncan and Lorraine) quickly” and, more importantly, it explains how “Charlie came closer to them, as if to force them backward down the corridor” (213). Such descriptions shows how Charlie is panicking to get the couple away quickly to keep the situation from getting worse. Rather than becoming aggressive towards the Schaeffers, Charlie keeps his composure and simply lets the couple know that he does not want to go out to dinner with them. The couple leave bitterly, creating an awkward vibe in the environment which greatly disturbs Marion. The audience can see this when the story describes how she “...cant stand shocks. That kind of people make her really physically sick” (214). The rest of the scene, Charlie tries to comfort her about everything, but the incident disturbed her so much that she changes her mind about letting Honoria go back with