Charlie's Regret of Past Behaviors in Fitzgerald's Babylon Revisited

Charlie's Regret of Past Behaviors in Fitzgerald's Babylon Revisited

Charlie Wale's character seemed to get the raw end of the deal throughout

the entire story. He was trying to redeem himself as a good father and a

good citizen. He had many regrets of his past actions and behavior,

especially those regarding his deceased wife, Helen. The events that

occured during his visit to Paris, however, were detrimental to his

intentions.

His desire to have his daughter, Honoria, return with him to Prague, was

sincere, and as a reader, I could almost feel his pain and disappointment

at the disastorous end results. Marion's decision to not allow Honoria to

return was merely based on Charlie's "past". Once his old acquaintances,

Duncan Schaffer and Lorranine Quarrles, surfaced at the home of Linclon

and Marion Peters, there was almost no chance of redemption. Marion could

only see the "old" Charlie, and not the man who longed to care and provide

for his daughter. Marion also seemed to hold a grudge against Charlie for

the death of her sister, Helen. Charlie had begun many preparations to

bring Honoria home with him. The hiring of a governess and the lease on a

new apartment are just two examples of his attempt at trying to convince

Marion and Licoln of his seriousness of resuming the responsibilty of

being a parent. To be a father to Honoria, would also entail being a

mother to her in some ways, due to the fact that Helen's death had

been a part of the past Charlie was trying so hard to recover from..

Charlie's personal strentgh is shown by only having one drink a day,

compared to the noted many drinks, and possibly other paraphernalia he

may have encountered in his colorful past. At this point in his life, he