Babylon Revisited Theme

How would someone act if they were blamed for the death of their wife, and then their child is swept away because they were not responsible enough to take care of them? This surreal problem happened to Charlie in the short story, “Babylon Revisited” written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Charlie struggles with himself after loosing his wife because he feels grief and pain, madness towards his sister-in-law for not believing that he could change, and the fear that he may not be given the chance to be a father.
Even though his sister-in-law, Marion, blamed Charlie for his wife’s death it was not his fault. Charlie had always lived a party life, and alcohol was his best friend. He and his wife were having marriage problems, and was barley holding on. …show more content…
He still had to overcome many obstacles, and he had to sober up and become a more responsible father. Once Charlie made the biggest change in his life that he could, he realized that it was time to bring his daughter home with him. He had to gain the courage to face Marion. He had not seen her or his daughter since the incident of locking his wife out of their house. He knew that Marion would not be happy to see him, and would probably still not believe that he has changed. When he finally made the trip, he felt the urge to drink. He promised himself that he would only have one drink a day. After visiting the bar he had been to many times, he knew it was time he went to get his daughter. When he showed up to their house, they were all shocked to see him standing outside their door; however, his daughter was elated to see him. She had been waiting to see him for a long time. After visiting for a while, he wanted to spend time with his daughter alone. When he took her to lunch, he could tell that she was very excited to see him and hinting around the fact that she wanted to go home with him. She blurts out, “Daddy, I want to come and live with you” (206). When she said that, he knew that it was time to face Marion. When Charlie returned later that night, he asked Marion about taking his daughter back home with him. She did not believe that he had changed and still …show more content…
But he knew what his main purpose was, and that was to take his daughter back home with him. Even though, she had already said that it was not a good idea. He was going to try one last time. He went desperately back to Marion’s house, to try to convince her that he was a changed man. After pleading his case, she realized that his daughter needed him. They were both excited that they were going to get to go back to Charlie’s home together. Needless to say, he did not know the plans would change. The day he had been waiting on for what seemed forever finally arrived. He was going to get his daughter and taking her back home with him. When he went to get his daughter, they were getting her stuff gathered up and all of a sudden the doorbell rang. In came some old friends of Charlie’s from back in the day. Charlie knew this could not look good, because they were both drunk. When Marion saw Charlie’s old friends appear drunk, it brought back a lot of old memories. She realized that she could not let his daughter go, because she did not know if he had fully changed. This situation devastated Charlie. He was so close to getting his daughter back. There was nothing he could do at this point. Charlie decided that the best thing to do would go back home a lone and someday come back and try