The Paradox in Fitzgerald's Babylon Revisited

Modern writers seem to be responsible to frame a lacerated world， a world stifled with people floating and homeless， a world more tattered than reality. Yet on the other hand， they never lose the confidence in finding a whole and sound world， where everything is an integral part of the whole and the salvation of individuals as well as mankind are positively sought after. Therefore， modern fictions are born with a paradox: an irreconcilable conflict between the motive of integrity and the reality of separation. Scott Fitzgerald， both in his life and stories， suffered from this contradiction， and Babylon Revisited， one of his best short stories， embodies this idea of contradiction to the extreme.

Symbols: Honoria vs. Babylon

A simple plot of seeking and losing is extended relentlessly， the protagonist in the end left in besieging loneliness after a revisit to the Babylonian city in expectation to be materially and spiritually rejuvenated. Written in early 1931， Babylon Revisited is a conclusion of personal and social collapse following the previous great decade. While the short story is a sentence of doom over a social order that imagined itself in full flower. The prevailing tone is brooding， haunted， elegiac， as the title suggests. It is a sad symbol. Babylon， the capital of the Empire which valued pleasure and luxury above all else， justifies the American orgy of clamor and prosperity in the Jazz Age， and also the stillness and boredom of Paris after the Depression， considering its final decline and fall. In Revelation， the angel tossed a stone into the sea and claimed that “Thus will Babylon， the great city， be thrown down with violence and shall be found no more at all.” Thus the visit towards hope and happiness is destined to encounter an apathetic expatriation accompanied by pity and pain.

Honoria contrarily symbolizes love and hope. Kids are immune from environmental vicissitude， unaware of the impinging miseries from life. In other words， they have not been tainted with the impure ink of outside force. Besides， Honoria is portrayed as a child who behaved well both at home and at school， a perfect image which merited being pursued. The revisit could be seen as an Odyssean voyage to “Honoria’s childhood” and a “chance for a home”. Charlie， long deprived of the love and warmth of a family since his wife’s death， was striving to approach carefully a kind of protective and inexperienced life. Unlike Odysseus， Charlie reached no land of promised happiness. He lost Honoria， as he had lost Helen years ago. His wife’s name coincidentally tells a story of betrayal and destruction in relation to the name of the city where Charlie met his own failure.

The Disturbance of Time: the past vs. the present

There is a disorder of time in this short story， either the narrative time or the psychological time. It starts with a dabbling into the past. Flashback intertwined with normal narration tends to remind the readers of the past never dying out and messing up the whole plate of sand. As the title suggests， “re-” draws a line between two temporal points， and the protagonist is trying to bring the past to the present.

Fitzgerald， like Charlie， took a twofold attitude towards material abundance. It’s of aspiration， producing the American idealism of optimism， pragmatism and hedonism. “It was nice while it lasted.” “We were a sort of royalty almost infallible， with a sort of magic around us.”Part of Charlie lived in the sweet memory of vanished glory， which was the real infallible fortune for him. “If you didn’t want it to be snow， you just paid some money.” And his aspiration to reestablish his business in Prague， though an unrealizable daydream， was an effort to reconstruct a collapsed palace. Therefore， the Jazz Age is indeed an uncouth satire to the waste land. Charlie was eager to plunge himself into the past time: the retrospection to American style of living， the previous carelessness in spending money， and the repeated mention of initial Prague success which saved the past as deceitful imagination. Charlie’s past has a subjective perspective， easy to be brought to the present as a kind of weapon or compensation. He lived in his dream of the lost empire—Babylon， past and present so interwoven in his mind. The present was extended to include the past， and memory was actualized into fact.

However， the past could also be a sharp blade piercing through the protective shell of selective memory. Although Charlie was not one living according to time， he was interrupted by the ugly and naked reality. In his world everything in the present world was not at all in conformity with the imagined legend. His failure to catch the reality and to build up a self rooted in the torment of the past.

According to Bergson pure memory is potentially and unconditionally accompanying everyone with all the layers of the past. Memories of the great economic inequality resulted in morbid envy， even if the favored was her own sister. Thus it could be doubted that Marion’s hysteric love towards the late Helen， expressed in the way of blaming everything on poor Charlie， was heart felt or not. It is more like a vengeful excuse， the most cruel and only action she could take to humiliate the once humiliator. And for her “on the whole it’s a good deal pleasanter.” The present was in favor of Marion whose past was a devil she wanted to repress all the time. In this wise Charlie and Marion form a most evident dichotomy. The appearance of Charlie， especially a Charlie with a promising future， reminded Marion of the unalterably unbearable past， which she could only avoid through breaking wistfully Charlie’s fabricated past.

Being， as Heidegger’s masterpiece suggests， is tied up with time. Thus， the perspective on time would go with the perspective on Being， and likewise with that on a subjective entity. The temporal predicament both Charlie and Marion faced labels the story more an irreconcilable paradox.

The Split between the Fantasy and the Reality

It is natural that in returning to a place where one has once lived， one should revisit familiar haunts， and Charlie spends the first scene of the story in a bar. From this we learn that Charlie has had a problem with alcohol (we suspect he still does)， and that this is a situation all too common in his social circle. It is through Charlie， and his description of his world， that we come to understand the sad dissipation of his life. The opening paragraphs establish that he has been away for a while， and much has changed. He describes what his old haunts are like now， alluding to the fact that the bar used to be busier; that many of his friends have gone away， or gone to the dogs， or gotten sick; that no one has the kind of disposable income that they used to; that he used to drink excessively， but has disciplined himself to one drink a day. We see that Charlie is sincerely trying to re-invent himself， and we think he deserves a chance.

Significantly， however， the world Charlie depicts when he’s sober is a much more dull， colorless， lifeless place than the world he recalls from his drinking days. We see this in contrasting Charlie with either his still-drinking friends or with his daughter Honoria， both of whom still see the world as wonderful and full of possibilities. Charlie， on the other hand， realizes that ‘a(chǎn)ll 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. In the little hours of the night every move from place to place was an enormous human jump， an increase of paying for the privilege of slower and slower motion. He remembered thousand-franc notes given to an orchestra for playing a single number， hundred-franc notes tossed to a doorman for calling a cab.’

When Duncan and Lorraine，Charlie’s old friends，barge into Marion’s house and invite Charlie to dinner， he unceremoniously ushers them out of his inlaws’ house， but at the end of the story， after he is denied custody of Honoria， he ‘went directly to the Ritz bar with the idea of finding Lorraine and Duncan.’ Rationally he must know that by associating with them again， he is going to get sucked back into the same patterns he went to rehab to break. Yet he does not know any other way of living in Paris; he does not know any other way of enjoying his life.

As the story ends， Charlie is sitting in a bar with an empty whiskey glass in front of him; he has refused a refill， but if he continues to sit in bars as he used to when he was an active alcoholic， he will not refuse refills forever. His goal in staying sober was to get immediate custody of his daughter， and that has been quashed， at least temporarily， by the appearance of his drunken friends. In Babylon Revisited， the author shows how difficult it is for an addictive personality to break out of the cycle of addiction and start a new life. Babylon Revisited is one of the most harrowing glimpses of the problem ever written.

The Character Analysis of Charlie Wales

As the handsome， thirty-five-year-old protagonist of the story，once worth a small fortune，Charlie Wales spent all his money in Paris during the mid-1920s. An alcoholic， he collapsed along with the stock market in 1929. Since regaining his sobriety and financial footing as a businessman in Prague， Charlie has become ashamed of his past recklessness. He adores his daughter， Honoria， and misses his wife， Helen， for whose death he may bear partial responsibility.

One of the questions that dominates Babylon Revisited is whether or not Charlie is reformed.

On the one hand， Charlie is adamant about having only one drink per day. Even at the very end of the story， when he’s lost his chance at getting Honoria back， he refuses to have a second cocktail. He sticks to his guns， and that suggests that he’s serious about becoming a new man. His attitude toward his past behavior is definitely that of a reformed man. He is disgusted at and horrified by the way he used to act， as we see clearly in these passages:

His first feeling was one of awe that he had actually， in his mature years， stolen a tricycle and pedaled Lorraine all over the étoile between the small hours and dawn. In retrospect it was a nightmare. […] How many weeks or months of dissipation to arrive at that condition of utter irresponsibility?

Also， Charlie is adamant in his refusal to go out partying with his old drinking buddies， Lorraine and Duncan. He wants nothing to do with them. As for his relationship with Honoria， we get the sense that Charlie would make a good father; his understanding of his daughter and the goodness of his intentions is never thrown into question.

On the other hand， the first thing Charlie does when he gets to Paris is go back to his old bar and start looking for his old drinking buddies. He even leaves the Peters’ address for Duncan at the Ritz so he can get in touch later. While he only has one drink per day， Charlie is still drinking every day， and his explanation to Lincoln of why he does might just be rationalization. And though Charlie openly condemns the fast-paced lifestyle he once lived in Paris， we can’t help but notice the tinge of nostalgia and longing in Charlie’s description of the city and the good old days.

Part of Charlie wants to return to his old life. This is one explanation for his leaving the address for Duncan at the start of the story. It also explains why he keeps tempting himself by visiting all his old haunts. If he were truly reformed， we suspect， he would avoid the scenes of his former crimes. You don’t really expect to see a recovering alcoholic hanging out at his old bar， do you? So sure， most of Charlie wants to reclaim Honoria and start a new life and be a new man. But part of him wants to return to his old lifestyle. It is this tension that makes Babylon Revisited so darn good.

Thus，the main conflict in this short story is Charlie Wales versus himself. Not only his past self and the sins committed when he was that person， but his current self and the temptations he now faces. Charlie wants to become a new person and is honestly working towards that， however he has not yet proven reliable enough to regain custody of his daughter. His behavior shows certain weaknesses of personality and a tendency to flirt with old vices better left behind.

The division between the honest desire to change and an individual’s ability to actually do so are central to this story. We never doubt that Charlie realizes the error of his old ways and truly wants to be a good father. There are hints of his understanding of his own faults through his distaste at seeing his old friends and the cringe-worthy reflections on his last interactions with his wife. At the same time， he can’t help but look at that part of his life with a strange sort of wonder.

Actually，Charlie is beyond an objective approach， there is a little bit (or more) of Charlie in all of us， that said， not any view of Charlie can be truly unbiased.

(作者單位：交通銀行，中級經(jīng)濟師，)