A Character Analysis of Charlie in Fitzgerald's Babylon Revisited
In considering Charlie Wales plight in Fitzgerald's "Babylon Revisited," I believe Charlie is a victim of his own success. As a successful businessman two times over he has burned many bridges behind him and for his well intentions he is blind to that continued fallacy. He does not seem to realize that the success he enjoys now is the envy that brought about Marion and Lincoln's contempt prior to Helen's death.
I see Charlie attempting desperately to act out of character. Adept at business he has shown ability, humility and perseverance. However, he seems to be out of touch with the manifested feelings of others his path has crossed.
I do believe Charlie is not truly ready for parenthood. It appears he is fighting a demon, longing for a piece of his life that was lost in his past. Motivated by guilt I believe he is substituting materialism for love believing money buys happiness. He would substitute a governess for parenting for he realizes his business ventures will not lend time to child rearing.
We can all sympathize with Charlie on the surface, we have all made mistakes that we have to live with. Charlie is attempting to move forward with his life and erase the mistakes of his past. The ghosts of his past torment him repeatedly throughout the story, his child's guardians despise him and his old friends do not understand him.
Duncan Schaffer and Lorraine Quarrles represent all that wrong with Charlie's life. Charlie attempts to steam forward and like a anchor they keep him moored in place. I can not truly sympathize with Charlie though there is a sense of empathy within me. I sense that with Lincoln Peters also.
Growing up, Charlie faced two difficult loses that changed his life by getting him admitted in the hospital. As a young boy, he lost his aunt in a car accident, and in middle school, he lost his best friend who shot himself. That Fall, Charlie walks through the doors his first day of highschool, and he sees how all the people he used to talk to and hang out with treat him like he’s not there. While in English class, Mr. Anderson, Charlie’s English teacher, notices that Charlie knew the correct answer, but he did not want to speak up and let his voice be heard. As his first day went on, Charlie met two people that would change named Sam and Patrick who took Charlie in and helped him find himself. When his friends were leaving for college, they took one last ride together in the tunnel and played their favorite song. The movie ends with Charlie reading aloud his final letter to his friend, “This one moment when you know you’re not a sad story, you are alive. And you stand up and see the lights on buildings and everything that makes you wonder, when you were listening to that song” (Chbosky). Ever since the first day, Charlie realized that his old friends and classmates conformed into the average high schooler and paid no attention to him. Sam and Patrick along with Mr. Anderson, changed his views on life and helped him come out of his shell. Charlie found a
The American stock market crash was a pivotal point for Charlie. When Charlie is institutionalized, he loses custody of his young daughter, Honoria. It becomes increasingly evident that Charlie has recognized the error of his old ways and shows great promise in proving his reformation. He is no longer institutionalized and he has successfully limited his alcohol consumption for some time. Charlie limits himself to one drink per day to make sure that his behavior remains decent. In addition, When Charlie encounters his old friends, Lorraine and Duncan, he is very cautious about his decisions. During his visit to London, Charlie reconnects with his former brother and sister in-law. They allow him to spend some time with his daughter but Marion is adamant about blaming her sister’s death on Charlie. She is also somewhat reluctant towards allowing Honoria to be with her father. Fitzgerald created Marion to be cold and mean-spirited which allows the reader to feel sympathetic towards Charlie. Despite all his efforts to regain custody of his daughter, Charlie ends up in the same place he started: having a drink at the Ritz bar thinking about getting his daughter back (Churchwell,
At this stage of the story we are compelled to feel a little bit sorry for Charlie who has been separated from his father.
Charlie’s character transition is an evidence of the saying, “Walk a mile in my shoes. See what I see, hear what I hear, feel what I feel, then maybe you’ll understand why I do what I do. Until then don’t judge me.” His journey with Kanalaaq showed him how important it is for people not to judge other for superficial
Charlie knew Claude from his rambunctious days during the bull market, but now he’s “all bloated up” (BABYLON), bereft by the crash. The next day, during lunch with his daughter, Honoria, two more figures from Charlie’s past come into play - Lorraine and Duncan, who are old friends of “a crowd who had helped them make months into days in the lavish times of three years ago” (BABYLON). They are instantly drawn to Charlie, and force him to remember the years he so vehemently tries to forget; questioning in amazement the sober man standing before them. Charlie shoos the two along as best as he can without insult, as he knows these people are not good for him or his daughter to be around. They are the living embodiment of the events of his past, and in order to be a new person, his old friends cannot be a part of his life.
For Charlie, Ignorance is bliss. He realizes that his so called ? friends? were just using him to entertain their perverse humor. Also, he was also fired from the job that he loved so much because his new intelligence made those around him feel inferior and scared.
Hanson, Dr. D., J., Heath, Dr. D., B., & Rudy, J., S. (1997-2013). Rethinking Alcohol Use By
The night Laura Wishart was found dead, Charlie changed as a person: he started to see everything in a different light, even his home life. He comes to terms with his mother; he realises that her personal issues are being taken out on him and dominating their family life. Ruth Buc...
The common image that comes to mind on the topic of censorship is that of book burning. Dating back to ancient times, the easiest way to deal with unwanted writings has been to get rid of them, usually by heaping them into a blazing pyre. In his most famous science fiction novel, Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury warns of a futuristic society where all literature is destroyed under a kerosene flame and the citizens' freedoms are kept in check by the lack of written information. In fear of this kind of totalitarianism, many bibliophiles have fought against all manners of censorship, wielding the first amendment and the rights recognized by our fore-fathers. But with the technological advances of this the last decade of the twentieth century and the up welling of a new informational medium comes a new twist to the struggle for freedom of expression.
only see the "old" Charlie, and not the man who longed to care and provide
The final paragraph in the story shows how much Charlie loved his daughter, and how much he needs her to complete his life. In "Babylon Revisited" Charlie was treated unfairly and should have won the custody of Honoria. Charlie’s regret of how he lived in the past is proved repeatedly throughout the story and even with the hardship of losing his wife and daughter, Charlie was still able to put his life back together. The mistakes he made in the past were not all his fault; there was a problem in the stock market that put a heavy burden on his shoulders. He has done more than enough to show Marion that he has changed and is capable of taking care of Honoria. However, the story may also be a bit biased considering that the narrator may not be a reliable person. There are also certain situations in the story, which questions Charlie’s sincerity about how much he has changed.
The problem of alcohol abuse has been recognized for thousands of years, but only more recently have we begun to see alcohol addiction as a treatable disorder. According to the Classical Disease Model of `Alcoholism,' habitual use of alcohol can be identified as a disease. Webster's Dictionary defines the concept of `disease' as follows: "Any departure from health presenting marked symptoms; malady; illness; disorder." Therefore, as many occurrences of alcohol excess provoke such symptoms, it is somewhat understandable that `alcoholism' is classified as a disease. The Classical Disease Model appears to offer a hopeful option. Treatment and sobriety can allow people to lead fulfilling lives. Adjacent to the notion of alcoholism as personal failure or moral deterioration, the Classical Disease Model appears to be a more desirable concept as it provides a motive for the alcoholic to seek treatment and gain sympathy, minimizing personal guilt. As alcoholism is seen as a progressive and, to an extent, hereditary illness for which those afflicted are not accountable, victims avoid being ostracized from society (Jellinek, 1960). Labeling the problem as a `disease' allows the medical profession to take responsibility for the treatment of alcoholism, which puts the problem in a more favourable light than if it were in the hands of psychologists or social workers, thus detaching the stigma connected with the problem while it is put on a par with other diseases such as diabetes or cancer. However, critics of the Classical Disease Model believe stigma helps reduce alcohol problems and aids the alcoholic. Any effort to reduce the stigma which is faced by the alcoholic will reduce pressures to moderate consumption and could have the additional ...
Alcohol consumption is prevalent in our society; people drink while at parties, sporting events, and at dinner. Drinking is socially acceptable and legal, so there is no surprised that many drink. However, individuals can be deemed deviant if they exceed a certain level of drinking. The deviant receives the label of an alcoholic; to distinguish their behavior is outside the normal values of our society. “Nearly one-third of the US population will meet criteria for alcohol abuse or dependence within their lifetime” (Young, 2011). Alcoholism is considered deviant because the person drinks excessively and frequently disregarding the safety of themselves and others. Society stigmatizes these individual as clinically ill; their behavior is a result of disease which needs to be addressed and treated, in order to provide safety for the public. Alcoholism not only affects the public’s safety however it influences how the individual interacts with others, their ability to perform on the job, and has considerable health related risk. These behaviors and attitudes fuel the drive to treat alcoholics; in hopes that their behavior will go into remission since once an alcoholic always an alcoholic.
Environmental impact assessment (EIA) entails a multifaceted appraisement of the possible aftermath caused by a project or action on the surrounding man-made and natural environment (Wood, 2003). This systematic process requires the involvement of all interested stakeholders in the process and the public, in order to achieve a widespread consent on the planned project and mitigation strategies proposed [European Commission (EC), 2014].
Because of the parties he attends with his new friends he has tried using some drugs. These new friends help Charlie see things with a positive perspective, and to be confident in himself. When his friends move away, Charlie experience isolation and has a mental crisis that leads him to be internalized in a clinic.