The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

In his introduction to “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” in the annotated Table of Contents to Tales of the Jazz Age, Fitzgerald explains that the story “was inspired by a remark of Mark Twain’s to the effect that it was a pity that the best part of life came at the beginning and the worst part at the end” and that he set out to try the experiment of reversing aging “upon only one man in a perfectly normal world” (7). The tension between one man’s fantastical condition and his otherwise normal world is a source of comedy at first but later reveals poignant contrasts before ending on an emotional note. By blurring fantasy and reality, Fitzgerald insinuates that the normal world of America may be somewhat dreamlike and insubstantial.

Twain was called the father of American literature by Fitzgerald’s contemporary William Faulkner. His work employed humor, satire, and fantasy to provide rich social critiques that still resonate today. The opening setting of “Benjamin Button” is the historical period when Twain published his short fiction and the story contains a mix of fantasy, insight, and sentiment reminiscent of Twain’s writing. Twain was seen at home and internationally as a representative of young America. Fitzgerald’s American roots have historical significance as well: he was named after his distant cousin Francis Scott Key, the author of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

Ancestors and generations figure prominently in Benjamin’s story too. His parents are members of a moneyed Southern gentry whose wealth was built upon slavery. His father is a business owner far more concerned with protecting his reputation than caring for his son. The family business will one day become Benjamin’s, and when it does he is able to enjoy the fruits of inherited wealth and its many social perks. He can hand the property to his own son along with its attendant class position.

But the benefits of elevated social status come at a devastating familial cost. He finds himself a nuisance at either end of life, first to his father and then to his son, who both see Benjamin’s inappropriate age presentation as a threat to the family’s standing in Baltimore society. Benjamin gains acceptance as he grows younger but loses acceptance when he’s grown too young. The terms of his loss are painfully analogous to the reality of many aging parents who find themselves at the mercy of their offspring, sometimes before they are ready to accept a diminished role.

In the middle of his life, the same pattern plays out with Hildegarde. When he looks the way that she would expect him to look he can court her, marry her, and father a child. But as she grows older while he grows younger, their roles are permanently altered and the change is noted disparagingly in society gossip. The changes reflect social notions of age and desirability that parallel American beauty standards. Again, we see how despite being a fantasy, the story hews closely to real-world observations and concerns.

The extremes of life are marked by obvious physical and behavioral features that lend themselves to the story’s sharpest contrasts: an aged baby with a long gray beard; an old infant being tucked in by his Nana. But in the middle of life, there is no contrast. He looks to be the age he’s numerically supposed to be, and he can now experience success, identity, and social acknowledgment. This plays against Mark Twain’s comment that inspired Fitzgerald’s reverse-aging story. Twain suggested that the best part of life is the beginning and the worst part is the end. In Fitzgerald’s telling, the beginning and end are both frustrating periods of confusion and rejection. The middle of life is the best part, the time when Benjamin can marry his dream girl, become an innovator in business, and (most importantly for his self-identity) be celebrated as an American hero through his courageous performance in battle.

Director David Fincher’s critically and commercially successful film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) offers enlightening differences and similarities with Fitzgerald’s source material. The film was written by Eric Roth, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Forrest Gump, another book adaptation that offers a panoramic view of a Southern man’s life shaped by historical and cultural changes. Roth begins his version in the historical period when Fitzgerald’s protagonist enters his steep decline: World War I. Benjamin is born in New Orleans on Armistice Day (a major event in Fitzgerald’s life) and ages backward through the 20th century. He serves bravely in World War II where he develops into his early prime years, a parallel to the short story’s midlife emphasis on the Spanish-American War.

There are several differences between Fitzgerald’s story and the film adaptation. One example is Daisy Fuller, a character unique to the movie. In the short story, Benjamin’s relationship with Hildegarde Moncrief is fraught. In the film, Daisy is the love of his life. Their relationship begins in childhood and lasts the rest of his life, beginning as friendship, peaking as a passionate love affair, and ending as a grandmother-grandson relationship. Daisy also solves the story’s ambiguous narrative perspective: The film’s narrative is told through Benjamin’s diary, which Daisy’s daughter reads to her on her deathbed.

Benjamin’s relationship with his father is closer to the spirit of the short story. His father panics when he first encounters the baby and leaves him on the doorstep of a nursing home. When Benjamin is an adult, his father notices him at a brothel and later befriends him, now recognizing that they are growing closer in apparent age. When Roger Button is an old man nearing the end of his life, he approaches Benjamin again, revealing that he is Benjamin’s father. He also leaves Benjamin the family business. The pattern of early rejection, mid-life camaraderie, and eventual wealth bequeathal is a near match for Fitzgerald’s story.

Despite the changes in setting, period, characters, and plot details, the film expands upon the same themes as the original story: time and age, appearance and acceptance, family and society, history and identity. This emphasizes the universal applicability of Fitzgerald’s insights into the human experience as well as the functional modularity of his reverse-aging conceit.