F. Scott Fitzgerald's short story “Babylon Revisited” and other works gave him a famous name in American literature. Fitzgerald was a prominent figure during the "Roaring Twenties" both for his published works and his marriage to an Alabama woman named Zelda Sayre. His writing brought the couple fortune and fame, and newspapers saw them as the perfect example of what America should be like during this prosperous time. However, despite their seemingly happy and wealthy lifestyle, the Fitzgeralds' marriage failed due to the famous author's alcohol addiction. Fitzgerald died of a heart attack in 1940, 30 years after his wife's nervous breakdown. Both his relationship with his wife and his alcoholic nature have given him a negative view of the role played by memory and the past. While many famous writers argue that memory is a wonderful thing that brings cohesion and meaning to people's lives, Fitzgerald disagrees. He says that memories bring back sadness and that dealing with things that happened in the past can have a very unwanted effect on the human mind. It complicates life by making it extremely difficult to move forward and start over when a mistake has been made. Fitzgerald's stories are often melancholy in this respect. In his short story “Babylon Revisited,” Fitzgerald shows his negative view of memory and the past by subjecting the protagonist, Charlie Wales, to a revival of sobriety, harsh criticism, and, ultimately, failure. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay “Babylon Revisited” begins on the streets of Paris in the early 1930s. Charlie, newly sober, has returned to the town where all his past misdeeds occurred, not to relive them, but to retrieve his daughter, Honoria, who is in the custody of Charlie's brother and sister-in-law, Marion and Lincoln Peters. One day, Charlie takes his daughter to a vaudeville show and is forced to interact with two old friends. Fitzgerald says, “Sudden ghosts from the past: Duncan Schaeffer, a friend from college. Lorraine Quarrles, a beautiful pale blonde in her thirties; one of that crowd who had helped them turn months into days in the lavish times of three years ago” (2206). Charlie is surprised but happy to see the two, and gives them Marion and Lincoln's address in hopes of catching up with them later. However, as the conversation continues, Charlie realizes that his friends are still the same people as three years ago and that he has changed dramatically. His awakening becomes clear when Fitzgerald says, "As always, he [Charlie] felt Lorraine's passionate, defiant pull, but his pace was different now." Charlie's awakening of sobriety from his irresponsible past has left him with a feeling of embarrassment towards his old friends. He is unwittingly forced to relive a memory from the past when Lorraine sends him a letter a few days later. Fitzgerald, in Lorraine's words, says, "We had some good times that crazy spring, like the night you and I stole the butcher's tricycle, and that time we tried to visit the president and you had the old derby board and metal barrel. They all look so old lately, but I don't feel old at all” (2212) Charlie's memories of these acts, which Lorraine describes as “good times,” are no longer good for him. In fact, Charlie sees his past as a nightmare, a nightmare from which he cannot escape. Throughout the story, Charlie is constantly criticized for the behavior he exhibited before his awakening.