Babylon Revisited

Last Week I read Babylon Revisited by: F. Scott Fitzgereald. I have never been a Fitzgerald fan. Even though I've read The Great Gatsby twice I've never paid it much mind. I was an English Major, assigned to read at most times and at the same time four to six different novels for the classes that I was taking. Invariably, a novel or two was left by the wayside in my mind. The works of Fitzgerald were some of the less tended to and remembered. I was glad for the opportunity to stretch my literary brain again and finally, with attention and without distraction read a Fitzgerald piece. I enjoyed this story, but find it is one of those things that loses it's value and potency if you have no one to discuss it with. Here are my thoughts on the story that is known as the pinnacle F. Scott Fitzgerald's short stories.

"I spoiled this city for myself. I didn't realize it, but the days came along one after another, and then two years were gone, and everything was gone, and I was gone."

To me this line, this realization of Charlie's is his one true moment of clarity in the story. Later on he remembers stealing a tricycle w/Lorraine and is in "awe" of this. I think that this sentiment is a wonderful foil for the understanding that the boom and the beauty of Paris were all wasted and in the end spoiled for him and for Helen. Yes, there were free spirited and awesome moments, but they can not make up for and they can not justify everything that came in between and the toll that those three years took on Charlie, his friends and his family.

Charlie is unwilling to fully accept responsibility for who he was and what he did during those three years. He keeps saying to Marion and to Lincoln that while he was awful during those three years he had seven good years before that - and he seems to think, that fact alone and an acknowledgment that he was a shit during the boom should be enough and that everyone should just be able to get up, move on, and forget about what he did. It seems that he's almost mad at Marion for not just getting over it. Yes, I suppose the seven good years do count for something - but they don't negate his bad behaviour - he needs to realize that there are consequences for things that you do and sometimes unfortunately, those consequences can't be undone - or won't be undone easily and fair or not that is the price you have to pay for fucking up.


Finally, the last line of the story:

Charlie was absolutely certain that Helen would not have wanted him to be alone.

When I read this I really didn't know what to think. We don't learn much about Helen in the story - we know that she was probably just as much of a screw up as Charlie and that she's dead and that she had one horrible night locked out in the snow which may or may not have contributed to her death. Since most of what we learn about Helen's bad behaviour is from Charlie's memories it is possible that she wasn't as equal a contributor to the cause of their ruin as Charlie would have us think. Marion's comment about Helen dying of heart problems could be an allusion to Helen having a broken heart and to to a sadness over Charlie rather than an allusion to her having a weakened heart from getting pneumonia. Anyway, the last line of the story is a surprising one and took me off guard. What does he mean that Helen wouldn't have wanted him to be alone? Is it ironic that he thinks this when after all he is the one who left her locked out and alone? Is he thinking back to the real Helen, the good, untainted by the boom and the booze Helen and what that woman would have wanted for a marriage that was good and a husband that she loved. Or, is he just selfish in his thinking, making up this statement about Helen not wanting him to be alone? Is he trying to justify his attempts to get back Honoria, is he trying to make it seem like a noble act - that he is doing this for Helen and not for himself, because it is what she would have wanted. After the conclusion, in the thoughts which extend past the final line, it seems that maybe, after all, Charlie only wants Honoria because he's lonely and not because she is his daughter. The irreparable damage that Charlie can't take back may be inflicted not just on Helen and Marion, but himself as well, altering him into inescapable selfishness whether drunk or not. He did lose it all in the boom.