Babylon Revisited

Flashback in “Babylon Revisited” is a crucial narrative technique that deepens the protagonist’s character study and accentuates the theme of The Haunting Power of the Past. When Fitzgerald published “Babylon Revisited” in The Saturday Evening Post in 1931, some of the magazine’s readers would have been familiar with his earlier stories published there, such as “Bernice Bobs Her Hair” (May 1, 1920) and “The Ice Palace” (May 22, 1920). These stories depicted the new youth culture of the 1920s, a world of young women called “flappers” who listened to jazz music. These characters represented a hedonistic, energetic young America that was just emerging in the aftermath of World War I.

Thus, the flashback employed in “Babylon Revisited” would have resonated with readers of The Saturday Evening Post in its exploration of the aftermath of the roaring ‘20s Fitzgerald described in his earlier writing for the magazine. Through the strategic interweaving of Charlie’s present moments in “Babylon Revisited” with recollections of his bygone extravagant lifestyle, the profound changes Charlie has experienced in the aftermath of the stock market crash of 1929 likely reflected the experience of some readers. Charlie’s reminiscence that “He would come back some day; they couldn’t make him pay forever” reveals a hope for redemption that was part of a larger desire for economic regeneration in America during the Great Depression of the 1930s (Paragraph 280).