In the aftermath of World War I, a time period known as the “Roaring Twenties” is born in the United States and Europe, where immense economic development and widespread wealth is cultivated by the recovery from wartime postponed spending, a rise in construction, and a swift expansion in the availability of consumer goods. However, as quickly as the Roaring Twenties takes off, the stock market crash in October of 1929 ends the era and transforms into the Great Depression. F. Scott Fitzgerald uses this time period to enforce a theme of emptiness stemming from the shallow behavior of wealthy Americans living in Paris before the stock market crash. The depth of "Babylon Revisited" as a legendary work of fiction is in Fitzgerald's talent to encompass …show more content…
By naming the story, “Babylon Revisited”, Fitzgerald subtly compares the city of Paris to the illustrious city of Babylon. The Bible describes Babylon as the city of sins and of great power, but the city happens to abruptly come crashing down in the matter of an hour. Therefore by using, Babylon in the title, Fitzgerald right off the bat characterizes Paris as a city of wealth, power, and sin. Then by revisiting Babylon, Fitzgerald provides some foreshadowing into the real meaning of Charlie’s visit and gives a more detailed illustration into the true meaning. From the title “Babylon Revisited” I can infer that there will be a journey to witness the aftermath of the falling of a great empire. Hence, the rise of Charlie’s wealth in the 1920’s and then the sudden fall of the empire he created when the stock market crashed. Fitzgerald’s intriguing title choice implies that the story has further implications than just the simple plot of a man visiting Paris to regain custody of his daughter might reveal. Another one of the underlying characterizations of names and quite possibly the most obvious name to discuss is that of Charlie's daughter, Honoria. Because of the resonance of the word "honor," we see that Charlie's endeavor to regain custody of his daughter might be a symbol of an even larger journey on his part to restore the honor he lost during his destructive years in Paris. Charlie could be working to regain his reputation as an honorable husband and father. Regaining custody of Honoria is the goal of his trip to Paris, but his honor as a man is the goal of his reformation. Charlie realizes while he thought he was gaining everything through amassing large amounts of money and living extravagantly, he was really losing everything he actually wanted during