Babylon Revisisted
Babylon Revisited In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Babylon Revisited, the life of one man, Charlie Wales, is told from his return home to get his daughter, Honoria.
In the first part of the story, Charlie returns to the Ritz bar in Paris, where Charlie used to spend most of his time and money when he arrives he notices that Paris and Ritz seem deserted to him. Upon leaving the bar, he leaves his brother-in-law’s address for Duncan Schaeffer, one of his old drinking buddies from the “good ole days.” Once he leaves the bar, he arrives at his brother-in-law’s house where his daughter, Honoria, is living at. He arrives and Honoria jumps into his arms, but Marion, Charlie’s sister-in-law, is less than pleased to see him again. Fitzgerald says “her dislike was evident in the coldness with which she spoke, but Charlie only smiled; he had larger plans” (2206). In this sentence, Charlie understands that Marion doesn’t like him, but the reason he came back to Paris was for Honoria and that’s exactly what his mind is set to do; he’s not there to amend broken relationships but to show that he’s changed from his old ways for the better. At the end of part one, Charlie decides to go out on the town to see Paris in a clearer light. On the night-scene Charlie remembers the “thousand-franc notes given to an orchestra for playing a single number, hundred-franc notes tossed to a doorman for calling a cab” during his good ole days of drinking (2208). He says the money that was thrown away was an “offering to destiny that he might not remember the things most worth remembering, the things that now he would remember - - his child taken from his control, his wife escaped to a grave in Vermont” (2208).
During the second stage of the story, Charlie takes out Honoria to lunch. At lunch, Charlie suggests taking Honoria to a toy store and to the Vaudeville at the Empire. Although, Honoria is excited about the vaudeville, she is hesitant about the toy store because she says she has already lots
In the first part of the story, Charlie returns to the Ritz bar in Paris, where Charlie used to spend most of his time and money when he arrives he notices that Paris and Ritz seem deserted to him. Upon leaving the bar, he leaves his brother-in-law’s address for Duncan Schaeffer, one of his old drinking buddies from the “good ole days.” Once he leaves the bar, he arrives at his brother-in-law’s house where his daughter, Honoria, is living at. He arrives and Honoria jumps into his arms, but Marion, Charlie’s sister-in-law, is less than pleased to see him again. Fitzgerald says “her dislike was evident in the coldness with which she spoke, but Charlie only smiled; he had larger plans” (2206). In this sentence, Charlie understands that Marion doesn’t like him, but the reason he came back to Paris was for Honoria and that’s exactly what his mind is set to do; he’s not there to amend broken relationships but to show that he’s changed from his old ways for the better. At the end of part one, Charlie decides to go out on the town to see Paris in a clearer light. On the night-scene Charlie remembers the “thousand-franc notes given to an orchestra for playing a single number, hundred-franc notes tossed to a doorman for calling a cab” during his good ole days of drinking (2208). He says the money that was thrown away was an “offering to destiny that he might not remember the things most worth remembering, the things that now he would remember - - his child taken from his control, his wife escaped to a grave in Vermont” (2208).
During the second stage of the story, Charlie takes out Honoria to lunch. At lunch, Charlie suggests taking Honoria to a toy store and to the Vaudeville at the Empire. Although, Honoria is excited about the vaudeville, she is hesitant about the toy store because she says she has already lots
Cited: Fitzgerald, F. Scott. “Babylon Revisisted.” The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym. New York, New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2008.2201-2220. Print.