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
In 1910, Benjamin enrolls as a freshman at Harvard. He looks like he’s 20, so he has no trouble fitting in. He joins the football team and, because of his strength and determination, becomes the star. In a game against Yale, he not only scores multiple points but also knocks 11 of his opponents unconscious. As a result, everyone at Harvard loves him and sings his praises. But when his junior year comes around, he’s barely able to make the football team because he’s shorter and weaker than he was before. The following year, he doesn’t make the team at all.
Benjamin finally gets to live the life of a successful college student. Not only that, but he makes good on his vow to attend Harvard as a way of avenging the cruel people who chased him out of Yale. This, then, is a moment of redemption, as Benjamin finally gets to feel like he fits in at college. The problem, though, is that he won’t fit in for long—as he gets younger and younger, he once again finds himself out of step with his surroundings, and it just becomes harder for him to lead the typical life of a young man.
Themes
Underclassmen start mistaking Benjamin for a freshman. A rumor goes around that he’s a genius who gained entrance to Harvard at the impressive age of 16. Because so many of his classmates went to a prestigious preparatory school called St. Midas, he resolves to enroll there after college.
Benjamin’s desire to attend St. Midas is yet another indication that his developmental stage dictates the way he moves through the world. It wasn’t long ago that he would have found the idea of attending a preparatory school absurd and unappealing, but now he just wants to lead the life of an average teenaged boy. On an even more basic level, it’s almost as if Benjamin has resigned himself to the fact that he can’t pretend to be someone he’s not: he has the mind and body of a teenaged boy, so trying to act like an old man simply doesn’t make sense. It’s also possible that he can’t do anything but behave like a teenager, since this is truly who he has become.
Themes
After graduating from Harvard, Benjamin returns to Baltimore and moves in with Roscoe, since Hildegarde has moved to Italy. Now an important man in Baltimore society, Roscoe is embarrassed to have someone who looks like a teenager sulking around the house. Moreover, he fears that gossip about this situation will bring a bad name to the family.
It’s now clear that Benjamin’s relationship with Hildegarde has come to a complete end. Instead of continuing to support him out of love, Hildegarde has moved on, seemingly unable to accept that he’s no longer the older man she initially expected him to be. Of course, it’s also worth noting that Benjamin was the one who left Hildegarde by going to Harvard in the first place. Still, though, it’s clear that he can’t depend on her for any kind of support, which is why he turns to Roscoe. And yet, Roscoe feels the same way that Mr. Button felt when Benjamin was first born, focusing more on his own reputation than on caring for Benjamin. In this way, yet another one of Benjamin’s loved ones prioritizes status over showing him unconditional love.
Themes
With this in mind, Roscoe tells Benjamin to drop the idea of enrolling at St. Midas, finding it ridiculous that Benjamin would even consider going to preparatory school. He also says Benjamin has taken this whole “joke” too far. When visitors come to the house, he adds, Benjamin must refer to him as “Uncle,” because it’s unacceptable for someone who looks 15 to call him by his first name.
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” is full of reversals, and this moment is a perfect example of that. In the same way that Benjamin’s aging process is reversed, his entire relational dynamic with his son has now been flipped on its head. Roscoe no longer treats him with the respect people usually show their parents—instead, he treats him like a son (or, worse, like a pesky, unwanted burden). And this, it seems, is because Roscoe is worried about his own reputation. As a result, Benjamin is forced to make do without the emotional support he needs as he grows younger.
Themes
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