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The Lost Generation In F. Scott Fitzgerald's Babylon Revisited

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Money is worth more than children. To those adults living before the worldwide stock market crash in 1930’s, this statement is true. However, after this great downfall, many adults lost the feeling of security and invincibility, coined in Gertrude Stern’s label of the “Lost Generation.” In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “Babylon Revisited,” the protagonist, Charlie, strives to change his life after living irresponsibility due to the misconception of his wealth. After the death of his wife, Charlie’s sister-in-law and brother-in-law have been taking care of his daughter, Honoria, because Charlie could not stay sober. After years of working, all Charlie wants is to have his daughter back. Fitzgerald uses Charlie’s effort to have custody of his daughter …show more content…

After having dinner with Marion and Lincoln Peters, Charlie walks toward the Montmartre, and the narrator states, “So much for the effort and ingenuity of Montmartre. All the catering to vice and waste was on an utterly childish scale, and he suddenly realized the meaning of the word ‘dissipate’--to dissipate into thin air; to make nothing out of something” (Fitzgerald 250). Fitzgerald recalls the feelings of the “Lost Generation” in Charlie at this moment. To Charlie, the Montmartre symbolizes the instability of being monetarily wealthy in this time period. Money seems to be able to vanish so easily and quickly, especially after the effects of the stock market crash. In addition to the stock market, Fitzgerald uses “childish” to exploit the attitude people used to have towards their money. In his past adventures in Paris, Charlie has spent unnecessary amounts of money on alcohol, entertainment, and nightclubs. He now realizes that the seemingly overwhelming wealth he had dispersed into nothing, resulting in him to never to feel content in what his money can get him. Charlie wishes to recreate himself from the void money has caused. He yearns for a lasting source of gratification in his daughter, for he has made her from nothing to into

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One example of this laid-back attitude towards spending money is when Francis goes home after 22 years and gets $10 from Billy. Francis then jokes with his wife, Annie, about putting “…ten dollars toward the frame” (183) for a picture they like. This minor and seemingly harmless remark digs deeper into the person Francis is. Rather than spending money on food or shelter, he would rather spend it on a useless trinket that does not improve his life. Considering the economic climate at the time coupled with his situation, this joke turns into an ignorant statement which explains why he has “…been broke twenty-two years” (182).

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The theme of wealth is a primary topic that “Babylon Revisited” revolves around. Charlie learns from his mistake of taking something as important as money for granted: “Having too much money, ironically, was the source of Charlie’s greatest losses. As he sits in a bar realizing that he has once again lost Honoria, at least for a time, the bartender offers his regrets for a different loss: ‘I heard you lost a lot in the crash.’ Charlie responds, ‘I did’ and adds, ‘but I lost everything I wanted in the boom’” (Haisty).

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In this essay, nineteenth-century author William Hazlitt expresses his position on money and how it affects the world around us. His purpose is to share with his audience the positive and negative effects money has on one’s life and how much it can impact one's life. From there, Hazlitt uses literary devices such as parallelism and antithesis to illustrate money's effects on the world. The use of parallelism, helps the essay create a repeating pattern to emphasize how much money can impact a person. Hazlitt emphasizes those effects with words such as “it is,” “or to,” and “to be”.

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Furthermore, in the novel Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank, a nuclear bomb had recently hit the small town of Fort Repose, therefore, monetary currency was of no value leading Edgar Quisenberry, president of the bank, to commit suicide. Pat Frank himself writes, “He had been a banker all his life and that was the way he was going to die, a banker.” (122) The author’s point is that Edgar Quisenberry had been raised in an environment where all life revolved around money and banks. This was his nurturement growing up, so once it was destroyed, so was his purpose.

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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).

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Sapp John Sapp Hensley English 11/ Fourth Period 05 February 2018 Part 12: Rough Draft “Babylon Revisited” is a very detailed and well written story that has many ups and downs bound to leave the reader on the edge of their seat. F. Scott Fitzgerald uses many different types of writing techniques in “Babylon Revisited” to make this story grab the reader’s attention even more so than some of his previous works. Fitzgerald’s style portrays one of the most important aspects of this book by far, setting the tone for this story giving you more details throughout.

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Fitzgerald brings attention to the extravagant lives of the wealthy, the privilege they claim and the false sense of superiority they project. We are moved to assess the true nature of these characters. We acknowledge the duality of their characters; the part of themselves that are revealed to those around them and their true nature. The attempt

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