Age, Development, and Identity
As Benjamin Button ages backwards due to a mysterious condition, his developmental stages have a huge impact on his identity—his entire personality seems to change with each new season of life. For example, he has the body of an old man when he’s at the beginning of his life, and he behaves accordingly by exhibiting the kind of calm reserve that’s often associated with older people. Then, as he approaches middle age, he becomes more…
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Reputation, Gossip, and Scandal
In The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, society is obsessed with gossip and scandal. So, when Mr. Button’s son Benjamin is born with a condition that makes him age backwards, Mr. Button spends more time worrying that this will destroy the family reputation than actually caring for his son. Even the doctors and nurses who delivered Benjamin fret that the hospital’s reputation will suffer because he was born there, and they treat Mr…
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Expectations and Acceptance
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button demonstrates how hard it can be to face other people’s assumptions and expectations. For Benjamin Button, who’s born with a condition that causes him to age backwards, this means constantly having to behave the way other people think he should. His father, for one, wants him to play the part of a dutiful firstborn son. Meanwhile, the rest of society wants him to act in accordance with…
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Support and Caretaking
Perhaps the most tragic aspect of Benjamin Button’s life is that nobody supports or cares for him in meaningful ways. From the moment he’s born, the very people who one might expect to comfort him and ease him into the world—people like his parents and the nurses at the hospital—focus solely on his condition (which causes him to age backwards) and how it might impact their lives. And although Benjamin’s father, Mr. Button…
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