The title, “Babylon Revisited” is an essential tool in building the theme of Fitzgerald’s short story because it gives the reader additional insight into the life that once thrived in Paris. By naming the short story, “Babylon Revisited”, the author subtly compares the city of Paris, the actual city in which the main character, Charlie, is visiting, to the great city of Babylon. The Bible describes Babylon as the city of sins and the great city of power, but the city suddenly came crashing down in the matter of one hour. By using, “Babylon”, Fitzgerald immediately characterizes Paris as a city of wealth, power, and sin, and by revisiting Babylon, Fitzgerald provides the reader with a more in-depth insight into the meaning of Charlie’s visit. The title “Babylon Revisited

Fitzgerald uses symbolism to emphasize the emptiness Charlie is left with after the crash by giving his daughter the name, “Honoria”. Honoria is the Latin word for honor. Not only has Charlie lost most of his money, his daughter and his wife, but also his personal honor. By naming Charlie’s daughter Honoria, Fitzgerald is alluding to the fact that Charlie not only finds his lost daughter in Paris, but also his lost honor. Ultimately Fitzgerald uses this symbolism to reinforce his theme by adding to the magnitude of what the wealthy American society, and Charlie in particular, had lost in the stock market crash of 1929. The author wants to make clear that after the crash, not only did their loss have a monetary value but to a greater extent a personal value, because of the materialistic, empty lives people lived in Paris.

” implies that there will be a journey to witness the aftermath of the falling of a great empire. Fitzgerald’s intriguing title choice sets the reader up to realize that this story has further implications than its simple plot of a man visiting Paris to regain custody of his daughter might reveal, thus capturing the reader in a hunt for meaning in the story.

Fitzgerald’s untraditional plot structure and symbolism in his work, “Babylon Revisited”, clearly interprets its theme that nothing but emptiness can be found in lifestyles similar to Charlie’s and those held by wealthy Americans during that time.

The theme of this story is to exploit the behavior of wealthy Americans leading up to the stock market cras

Some topics in this essay:
Paris Charlie, Babylon Fitzgerald, Vermont” Fitzgerald, Americans Paris, Honoria Fitzgerald, Ultimately Fitzgerald, Babylon Bible, Paris Fitzgerald’s, Scott Fitzgerald, Honoria Latin, underlying plot, stock market, “babylon revisited”, market crash, stock market crash, plot structure, market crash 1929, fitzgerald symbolism, wealthy americans, narrative structure, emptiness charlie, regain custody daughter, untraditional plot structure, short story, behavior wealthy americans,