Many critics read Babylon Revisited as a direct parallel to Fitzgerald's personal life. Sarah Churchwell states, that the story “clearly chimes with Fitzgerald’s own life in late 1930: the extravagant dissipation of life in Paris during the boom years; the wife lost to illness.” Like Charlie, Fitzgerald led an extravagant life during the roaring twenties which vanished quickly when the stock market crashed. Along with his past life, Fitzgerald lost his wife, Zelda, and dealt with alcoholism while also trying to raise his daughter, Scottie. Churchwell goes on to say that Babylon Revisited is Fitzgerald’s “painful meditation on what he had wasted, his recognition that the cost of living it large is not just financial but emotional, psychological and spiritual – and that one can’t live in arrears forever.”

Fitzgerald with his wife Zelda, and their daughter, Scottie The first publication of Babylon Revisited

F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote Babylon Revisited amidst the Great Depression which was during the years 1929 - 1939. The short story was published in 1931. While the Great Depression severely impacted the United States, it also hit other countries such as France. The Great Depression emerged to France more slowly than the U.S, but it also lasted a little longer. During the Great Depression, there was a massive decline in international tourism and French luxury goods. Not many people were seen in the lively streets of Paris frolicking to shops and bars. Throughout Babylon Revisited there are mentions of the Great Depression and the effects it had on Charlie, and his Sister-in-law’s family, but also the city life as well. The publication of this story during the worst economic downfall in history creates a universal understanding with readers who were hit hard by the Depression. They have the societal context needed to picture what the city was like during and after the crash.

An image that conveys the desperation people had during this time.

Food line in Paris during the Great Depression

The Left Bank, also known as, La Rive Gauche, is the southern side of the Seine river in Paris. During the 1920’s and 1930’s, La Rive Gauche was seen as the cheaper part of the city where starving artists, such as Ernest Hemingway, Henri Matisse, and even Fitzgerald found comfort and companionship. Compared to the larger RIght Bank, where the wealthy class dwelled, the Left Bank offered more culture and simplicity. However, some say the Left Bank was more chaotic while the Right Bank was more orderly. For readers during this time, especially those who lived in France, the reference of the Left Bank, would initiate an immediate understanding of the environmental and social differences between the Banks, before and after the crash.

A cafe on the Left Bank

Carlos Baker suggests that one main theme found in the story is freedom and imprisonment. Baker states, “although Charlie Wales seems to himself to have redeemed his right to parenthood and to have regained his proper freedom, the links of his fetters are still visible when the story ends.” In this highlighted line, in particular, Baker argues that there is a double meaning in Marion’s statement, hen she uses the word “Bars”, although unbeknownst to Marion. Baker continues his argument by saying, “to the.. reader, aware of Charlie's prison-like predicament, the word might well carry an ulterior suggestiveness. For he has had enough of bars in both senses, longing instead for the freedom to live a responsible domestic life.”

The bars of Charlie's imprisonment. The above is a restaurant bar, below is a sanatarium.

Paul Bodine theorizes that Fitzgerald represents Paris as both heaven and Hell. Bodine writes, “These glimpses of the “majesty” and “magnificence” of Paris are then contrasted with its seedy tourist traps, licentious nightclubs, loose women, and money-devouring restaurants and nightspots.” In other words, Charlie enters an atmosphere littered with personal history that ranges from the best of times to the worst of times. Bodine then explains that “By evoking an image of Paris as a Dantean “nightmare” Fitzgerald suggests how far Charlie had fallen in his pre-Crash days as well as the dangers that still threaten him.” This leads to other critics arguments stating how Charlie is not a reformed man, but a man dealing with guilt.

Cafe Heaven and Cafe Hell in Paris during the 1920's

Throughout the story, Charlie mentions how much he wants a home, and how lonely he is without his daughter, Honoria. He sees the Peters home as the kind of home he wants to provide for Honoria, but also the type of home he wants to live in as well.

Although Charlie states that he is a changed man, Literature Critic David Toor argues that Charlie never changed but instead is “only sicker and less able to cope with the guilt”. Toor continues by saying, “[Charlie] wants his Honoria (honor) back, but… he knows he doesn't deserve her”. For Toor, Charlie never sought reformation by moving to Prague, rather he went to escape his responsibilities which expands the guilt he feels when he returns to Paris.

At the beginning of the story, we see Charlie visit the Ritz Bar. He catches up with the bartender and silently hopes he can bring his daughter home. Charlie was optimistic but solemn. Now at the end of the story, Charlie is back at the Ritz Bar, this time defeated and consumed by solemness. Charlie thought he made progress but in reality, he is back where he started. The Ritz Bar in the 1930's

An article that studies different parenting styles such as conditional and unconditional love

This connects to the parents and their relationship with their children. In class, we discussed how the parents enable the son's behavior instead of stopping his actions. Which led to the question of why do they do that.

This line reminds me of this image because of how regarded the emperor is in this photo. It is obvious, in the photo, that the emperor is respected and so is his rule. However, in the poem the brother is seen as powerful because of his violent habits, and people-- like his parents are frightened of him.

A look at how sacrifices were thought out, and the preparation that came with it.

The aztec headdress, worn by the Aztec emperor, was also green.

An example of a cenote in Cancun. There is this juxtaposition between the beauty the cenote possesses versus how the poem mentions them as a tool the brother uses against his parents.

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This whole stanza conveys the turmoil the parents face with their son. The parents feel devastated and hopeless, and mostly broken. All of which are emotions created by their own son who is ignorant to their feelings.

One of my favorite lines in the poem. In Catholicism lighting novena candles is an action related to praying, especially when it comes to death. To me, crossing fingers and praying both symbolize acts of hoping and wishing. However, crossing fingers is a less intense version which can be easily taken back compared to praying to a higher power. With this in mind, I think the parents sill want their son to return, but as a different person or even as the person he was before.