Among the many currents in "Babylon Revisited", one question is explored bit goes ultimately goes unanswered. How does a person who has transformed, grown and changed, get those who didn't see the process to accept this "new" person? Old acquaintenced see only the person that once was, questioning, denying or rejecting any differences they perceive. This is particularly true when the htings which once formed the basis of a relationship are discarded. Others cannot understand this change of heart, especially if it leads to the beginning of self-understanding. The effort to come to terms eith the new self and move on in life is often hindered by pressure to conform to an old image which no longer exists.

Charlie, on time alcoholic and over-grown teenager, has such an experience. More sober, literally and figuratively, he is ready to take on new responsibilities, reflecting his new perspective on life. He returns to old haunts to find they no longer have the same attraction. Accepting responsibility for past actions, he reconciles with his past and looks to the future in his dreams of Helen. With his future in mind he is able to resist old temptations embodied in Lorraine. His new focus gives him new strength.

Not all of his old acquaintences understand what they see, refusing to give credit to th possibility of change. Marion holds him to old offenses unforgiven. In bitterness she refuses to give Charlie what he desires, not out of protectiveness for Honoria, but because she holds the past near her side and wishes only to return harm for harm. Lorraine refuses to see that it is the activities which once held her and Charlie's relationship together that have been discarded, along with everything else which no longer fits his new self. Instead she persists where nothing exists to hold them together any longer, and perceives disintrest as personal insult.

So Charlie finds himself in an empty Paris, symbolizing his aloneness. Yet he holds to his new convictions, even with pressure to do otherwise. He remains disciplined when the desire of his heart is denied, honoring his pledge to only one drink a day. He reamins a winner even in loss. Perhaps total abstinence would have helped, but is unlikely. People see what they want to see, even in the face of radical change.

How can I make this judgement? I gre up out of the sight of my extended family for 9 or 10 years. When I saw them again at the age of 23, I was still a teenager to them and incapablie of being a responsible parent. My relationship with my child was interferred with as my judgement was called into question, although this interferance was not the the extent of Charlie's with Honoria. Yet for us both no one really saw how much we grew up. And no one really wanted to.


"Babylon Revisited"
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Source: Short Fiction Classic Contemporary, 3rd Ed
Essay written January 7, 1998
grade: A