Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Age, Development, and Identity
Reputation, Gossip, and Scandal
Expectations and Acceptance
Support and Caretaking
Summary
Analysis
General Moncrief changes his opinion of Benjamin over the next 15 years, as his son-in-law takes over for Mr. Button at the hardware company and achieves great financial success. (It also helps that Benjamin gives Moncrief money to self-publish his book, which nine publishers have rejected.)
Benjamin lives in a society where a person’s reputation matters more than anything else. This is why General Moncrief initially disapproves of Benjamin and Hildegarde’s marriage, since there’s so much gossip surrounding Benjamin and his reverse-aging condition. Ironically enough, though, society’s obsession with reputation is also why General Moncrief eventually accepts Benjamin, who makes a name for himself as a respected businessman. While a negative reputation can ruin a person’s life, then, a positive reputation can lead to success and social acceptance.
Themes
The rest of Baltimore also accepts Benjamin, who begins to look young and strapping. As for Benjamin himself, he starts gravitating toward the more exciting aspects of life, enjoying the thrill of being the first person in Baltimore to own a car. Seeing his son flourishing in this way, Mr. Button finally feels proud of Benjamin.
Again, it’s clear that Benjamin’s life is much easier now that he’s middle-aged, because he doesn’t have to deal anymore with a discrepancy between his actual age and the way he looks. No longer torn between his father’s expectations and the expectations society placed on him, he can simply flourish as a successful, widely-respected businessman.
Themes
Despite all his success and happiness, though, Benjamin has a problem: he no longer finds Hildegarde attractive. She’s now 35 and is the mother of Benjamin’s 14-year-old son, Roscoe, but Benjamin no longer finds her exciting. And it’s not just her looks that fail to entice him—he’s mainly bothered by how subdued she has become. She used to force him to go to dances, but now he’s the one taking her to social events.
Benjamin’s sudden lack of interest in Hildegarde again confirms that his condition is both physical and mental. It’s not just that he looks like a young man—he also thinks and feels like one, and this means that he wants to lead the thrilling life of a typical youngster. It also unfortunately means that he has no interest in carrying on a romantic relationship with a middle-aged woman. Benjamin has been judged his entire life based on how old he looks, and now he is judging Hildegarde the same way.
Themes
Literary Devices
Unhappy with the lack of excitement in his life, Benjamin joins the army at the beginning of the Spanish-American War in 1898, securing a high rank because of his social status. He sustains a slight injury in the war and is rewarded for his bravery. Though he doesn’t want to give up the thrill of military life, he eventually comes home to continue looking after his hardware business. Upon arriving in Baltimore, he’s greeted by a celebratory brass band.
Benjamin’s desire to go off to war starkly contrasts with the quiet life he used to lead when he had an old man’s body and mind. It’s quite clear that his entire personality has changed, as he now yearns for dangerous thrills. In this way, he has come to embody the stereotypical identity of an active, eager young man, and this demonstrates the impact that his various developmental stages have on his entire way of being. Each phase in his development brings about a new transformation, suggesting that different seasons of life have a profound impact on identity. On another note, the fact that a brass band greets Benjamin when he comes home calls attention to how much society has embraced him, now that the scandal surrounding his marriage to Hildegarde has died down.
Themes
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