Charlies Attempt to Overcome the Past in Fitzgeralds Babylon Revisited :: Babylon Revisited Essays

Charlie's Attempt to Overcome the Past in Fitzgerald's Babylon Revisited Babylon Revisited is made up of different characters with different ideologies in life. The Protagonist, Charlie is a reformed alcoholic who had come back to take his daughter. Marion is Charlie's sister- in - law who dislikes him because she thinks he caused her sister's death. I think Marion is emotionally disturbed. She overacts to things that happen in everyday life. Lincoln is Marion's husband .He tries to keep things as even as possible for Marion. Loraine and Duncan are ghosts from Charlie's past and they came to haunt him at the end of the story. We are always being haunted by our past sins and Misdemeanors. Even when we have been reformed, it takes a similar incident or someone appearing from the past to remind us of what we were before. I think Charlie is a strong Character. He was able to reform himself and stop drinking. This shows that he is strong. His coming back for his daughter proves that he is aware of his Civic responsibilities and he is ready to undertake them. There is a Strong bond between him and his daughter which is definitely a plus on his side. Charlie's journey to Paris to pick up his daughter reminds me of when I visited America. I stayed for one year before I went back for my Children. I had to get to know them again. I can relate to Charlie when he told Honoria "I want to get to Know you" (9).When you stay away from you children for sometime , you feel that they have grown so much and there is so much you don't know about them. Charlie had reasons to mistrust Marion .As Fitzgerald put it " Charlie became increasingly alarmed at leaving Honoria in this atmosphere of hostility against himself; sooner or later, it will come out in a word here, a shake of head there, and some of the distrust will be irrevocably implanted on Honoria"(13). It is not easy to leave your child with some one who you Know definitely does not like you. The father and Daughter bond is a strong bond and if it is destroyed at this early age it can become very difficult to restore it. Marion was very strongly biased against Charlie. Marion was ready to give Honoria back to the father until the appearance of Duncan and Lorraine.