Fitzgerald, Francis Scott. "Babylon Revisited".

Summary

Charlie Wales, aged 35, cured alcoholic, revisits Paris to see his little daughter Honoria. The girl is in care of his sister-in-law Marion and her husband Lincoln Peters. Charlie walks about the city and thinks of his wild times of excessive drinking and spending money here. Now he is both sober and worse off.

Charlie takes Honoria out. She is fond of her father and tells him she wishes to live with him. The two are surprised by Lorraine and Duncan, a couple from Charlie's past. Lorraine and Duncan want to revive the old times with Charlie.

At the Peters', Charlie is on his way to persuading the couple that he is now able to care for his daughter himself. They almost consent when Lorraine and Duncan enter the scene. Marion is shocked by the couple's flamboyant behaviour.

As a result of the unwelcome intrusion, the Peters' decide to put off the matter of legal guardianship for half a year. Charlie keeps on hoping to win his daughter back.

Analysis

- set in Paris, now no more frequented by Americans as it was before the Wall Street Crash

- "Babylon" of the title, standing for Paris, suggests the confusion of Charlie's former flamboyant lifestyle

- concerned with the the destructive power of money, lavish life-style, and excessive drinking

- difficulties of returning into "normal" life after years of living in luxury

- difficulties of re-establishing family relationships destroyed by alcoholism

- the past as a ghost whom one cannot escape no matter how he or she changes for the better