Rose Caron
English 121
Professor Nist
Project: Researched Argument
June 8, 1998

It is no wonder, that when students read literature, some are confused about the meaning of the story or poem, know little, if anything at all, about the author, and have trouble memorizing important points. This is not only because of the limited time allowed, but because the student fails to associate new knowledge with old knowledge. Making a personal connection is important whether the instructor recommends it or not. Attention should be given to both the technical points of the writing and the author’s biography. Take, for example, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s "Babylon Revisited." At first glance, the story wasn’t that hard to understand, so it was a good opportunity to study a piece of 20^th century American literature in a deeper way.

 "Babylon Revisited" is often credited for being one of Fitzgerald’s greatest short stories. As Professor Jackson Bryer states on a web site interview, "[It combines] Fitzgerald’s human themes of loss with a background of the social times in which they take place. …Paris in the Twenties. …[These aspects] give them a resonance (the personal story played within a larger picture) which many of Fitzgerald’s other stories lack" (1). Bryer also feels that "FSF should be remembered and valued most for the ‘how’ of his fiction rather than the ‘what’ of it, namely his style is what makes him exceptional, not his subject matter. …he does have the ability to capture feeling and emotion brilliantly as well. Gatsby’s frustration, Charlie Wale’s exasperation, … these are palpably present to readers."

Composed in 1931 and published in 1935, "Babylon Revisited" is "the story of a man whose failure to understand the tyranny of time and the subversive properties of money results in a tragic defeat" (Cowart 27). The story’s main character, Charlie Wales, attempts to get back on track with the American Dream after his wife’s death, the stock market crash of 1929, and a difficult battle with alcoholism. He becomes a businessman in Prague, Czechoslovakia, and returns to Paris in an attempt to regain custody of his daughter, Honoria. Honoria is Charlie’s last hope of re-establishing his family life, for she is still forgiving and trusting at the innocent age of nine. However, the child is under the legal guardianship of Charlie’s sister-in-law, Marion Peters, who rigidly holds Charlie’s past against him, and her husband, Lincoln.

There is symbolism in the story's title, which testifies to Charlie’s exile. The image that "Babylon" creates is one of the greatest cities of the ancient world. This "gate of God" was a religious center and place of exile for the Hebrews but then became a capitol of luxury and evil (Baker 270). Charlie unsuccessfully searches for his freedom as he tries to shed his bad reputation. He is caught between his hopes for a decent life for his child and the carefree Parisian lifestyle that caters to every vice.

The picture of Paris in the 20’s is not a pretty one. Money is definitely not an issue and neither is health or the future of the soul when it comes to having a good time. In addition to the Ritz and the many other bars, there are the expensive places of entertainment like the Casino where the black American dancer performs her nude "chocolate arabesques" (Anthology 1375). Then there are "the two great mouths of the Cafe of Heaven and the Cafe of Hell" (1376) along with other nightclubs along the streets of Montmartre, the Rue Pigalle and the Place Blanche, that consume busloads of curious tourists (Baker 270).

Fitzgerald alternates interior and exterior scenes in the story’s structure with the intent of providing the Babylonian background for the main dramatic scenes. For example, while on his way to the Peters’ apartment in the Rue Palatine, Charlie is in awe of the nocturnal beauty of Paris, forgetting for a moment its wickedness. "Outside, the fire-red, gas-blue, smoky ghost-green signs shone through the tranquil rain. ...[T]he bistros gleamed.... The Place de la Concorde moved by in pink majesty..." (Anthology 1373). By contrast, the Peter’s living room is "warm and comfortably American" (1374), "with a fire on the hearth and a pleasant domestic bustle in the kitchen" (Baker 271).

It is interesting to note that the story opens and closes in the Ritz bar, symbolizing perhaps that nothing has changed for Charlie. As Cowart notes, "That Charlie’s struggle begins and ends in the Ritz bar is an example of the kind of irony that is one of the basic features of tragedy, for a bar is a notorious surrogate for the home he has striven for and lost" (26). He seems to be caught in a prison-like state. Marion, however, doesn’t realize this and thinks Charlie goes to the bars for the sole purpose of drinking. No matter how hard he tries, he can’t please her. Not even a dramatic 180º turn would impress her because she is so sick and tired of all these wild drunken Parisians. Marian never really liked Charlie from the start but has held a grudge ever since the time when she and Lincoln took Honoria into their care because of Charlie’s drunken rages. "I’ll never in my life be able to forget the morning when Helen knocked at my door, soaked to the skin and shivering, and said you’d locked her out" (Anthology 1380).

Like his wife, Helen, Charlie must face his fate of being left out in the cold. At the end, he bitterly thinks of all the previous abuse, which shows that he is approaching a new level of understanding concerning what money will buy and what it will not. Money can’t, for example, change or stop natural wonders, like snow. One of the reasons Fitzgerald set the story in autumn is because it signals the coming of a "grim winter of the spirit" (Cowart 24). References to cold things--snow, Switzerland, Dunc’s disreputable friend the "Snow Bird"--hint at the pathetic, tragic alternative to the loving warmth that Charlie desires.

Ghosts, whose universal condition is in exile and homelessness, are also referred to in the story as symbolic. The Ritz can no longer be thought of as an American bar and its former habitués are gone (Baker 270). There are "ghosts out of the past: Duncan Schaeffer, a friend from college; Lorraine Quarrles, a lovely, pale blond of thirty; one of a crowd who had helped them make months into days in the lavish times of three years ago" (Anthology 1377). Charlie is also haunted by Helen, whom he sees in a dream, clad in angelic white. She didn’t really die as a result of being locked out by Charlie and contracting pneumonia. "This emblematic act...redounds on his present situation, when he is himself figuratively locked out. His exclusion is underscored by carefully selected narrative details: images of coldness, exile, and solitude counter images of hearth, home, coziness, and security" (Cowart 23).

This story becomes clearer when we see how Fitzgerald's own life experiences provided material for his fiction. In many ways, Fitzgerald’s unsteady financial situation paralleled Charlie’s. "Even in 1931, two years after the stock market crash and well into the Great Depression, Fitzgerald’s writing earned nearly $40,000." However, "his royalties totaled only $33" in 1939 and "not a single one of his books was in print" the year after (Anthology 1345). Other experiences Fitzgerald shared with Charlie include their battles with alcoholism and their days in Paris.

Human loss also greatly influenced Fitzgerald's life and is perhaps the most striking theme in his fiction. Tragedy struck before Scott (Fitzgerald) was born when his two sisters, ages one and three, died in an epidemic. His parents did not record their feelings, but he would later associate the event with his future career: "Well, three months before I was born, my mother lost her other two children and I think that came first of all although I don’t know how it worked exactly. I think I started then to be a writer" (20). A third baby died in 1900, but in July 1901, his sister Annabel was born.

Fitzgerald was born at 3:30 P.M. on September 24, 1886, in a three-story brick six-plex at 481 Laurel Avenue in St. Paul, Minnesota. He was named, Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald, after his distant relative, Francis Scott Key, the author of the "Star Spangled Banner." His parents, Edward and Mollie, had high ambitions for him from the start. Dave Page and John Koblas report that, as recorded in Fitzgerald’s baby book, the child’s first word was "up." This, "…certainly describes where Fitzgerald would eventually desire to be. He had a great yearning to be admired, first among his Summit Avenue peers, then by his classmates at Newman and Princeton, and finally by the artistic set in New York, Paris and Hollywood" (x).

In his teenage years, Scott was a failure at sports, hardly an academic success, but had plenty of luck with the ladies. His "first love," as he put it, was his classmate, Marie Hersey. There was also Margaret Armstrong, who was in his dance class at Ramaley School of Dance, where Scott was enrolled at the age of 14, and several others.

With the financial help of relatives, Scott had attended the St. Paul Academy, a private preparatory school, for three years; Newman Academy in Hackensack, New Jersey; and then, as a junior, Princeton. During his second year at St. Paul Academy, in 1909, his first published story was met with excitement in the school magazine, Now and Then, (October issue). "Nothing interested me until Monday," he recalled, "and when at recess, a big pile of the copies were brought in and delivered to the business manager, I was so excited that I bounced in my seat and mumbled to myself, ‘They’re here! They’re here!’ until the whole school looked at me in amazement." (49)

The story, which is about a double murder, an unrealistic pursuit, and a confession, fails to reveal who stole the mortgage or why. Influenced by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Scott’s "overly melodramatic, undistinguished start to a literary legend’s career best serves as a reminder to aspiring artists that everyone has to begin somewhere" (50).

Scott left Princeton in his senior year to serve in World War I. It was during his military training in Alabama that he met Zelda Sayre, his future wife (Anthology 1345). When he was discharged from the army in 1919, he started to work for an advertising agency while continuing to write. His first novel, This Side of Paradise, was published in March 1920 and was an immediate success. Scott and Zelda were married about a week later. Money was not an object for them, and their reputation hung by a thread. "They swam in public fountains in New York [where they resided for a short time], rode to parties on the hoods of taxis, fought with waiters, and danced on dining tables" (1345). Scott and Zelda had one child, a girl, on October 26, 1921. She was christened, Patricia, but was later referred to as, Scottie (Page and Koblas 118).

Fitzgerald was the first Irish Catholic to become a major American novelist (Page and Koblas 2). However, after being discharged from the army and learning of the death of Father Fay, a Catholic convert whom he befriended during his second year at Newman, Scott "turned to Zelda as a replacement for religion" (93).

A play Scott wrote in 1923, The Vegetable, Or from Postman to President, turned out to be a bomb and he had to rapidly produce numerous short stories to keep food on the table. He was practically incapable of keeping his earnings for very long. His most recognized novel, The Great Gatsby, was completed in 1929. However, it "earned little more than enough to repay debts to his publishers" (Anthology 1345). Scott became discouraged and didn’t write much over the next two years. It was a time, in his own words, of "1,000 parties and no work" (1345).

Fitzgerald decided to try his hand (with no success) at screenwriting when he moved to Hollywood in 1927. In 1934, he received a little boost when his novel, Tender is the Night, sold 13,000 copies in one year. It was in the 1930’s that Zelda began having mental breakdowns and Fitzgerald suffered from a severe case of alcoholism. In November of 1940, Scott suffered from two heart attacks. His final novel, The Last Tycoon, remained unfinished when he died at the age of 44 on December 21, 1940.

He is buried at his family plot, St. Mary’s Cemetery in Rockville, Maryland, along with Zelda, who later died in her sleep from a fire that hit the Asheville, North Carolina, asylum where she had been receiving treatment (Page and Koblas 140). "In vivid and graceful prose …[Fitzgerald] portrayed the hallowness of the American worship of riches and the enduring American dreams of love, splendor, and gratified desire" (Anthology 1346).

Of the 106 places in Minnesota associated with F. Scott Fitzgerald, only 21 have been destroyed. "Most of the sites are concentrated in an area approximately twelve blocks square stretching from the stately Cathedral of St. Paul west along Summit Avenue as far as the Grotto, north to Selby, and south to Goodrich" (Koblas 1). I inquired of the Minnesota Historical Society if one of Fitzgerald’s houses was available for touring, but they said that they stopped doing tours about two years ago.

My literature book comments, "In the early 1920’s Fitzgerald was the embodiment as well as the chronicler of the Jazz Age (a term for which he was largely responsible)" (Anthology 1345). The American Dream, a theme often commented on by Fitzgerald, survives through all of us, as our sense of dedication to work is unique. The expatriates in the 1920’s, like Charlie Wales, seemed to have lost their moral grounding as a result of losing touch with that work ethic.

I was told in my college literature class, that reading authors' biographies is a waste of time. However, after studying both "Babylon Revisited" and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s biography, I have come to appreciate his work on a more personal level, especially when I discovered that Fitzgerald grew up in my home state, Minnesota. Most literature can be analyzed and understood with greater depth after knowing what the author went through and by the students' making a connection between literature, the authors' lives, and maybe even the their own lives.