Sherwood Anderson's Babylon Revisited
Mother
In Sherwood Anderson’s “Mother“ written in 1919 the protagonist Elizabeth Willard is a frustrated dreamer who hopes that her son can discover the opportunities for creative impulses which she couldn't find. Furthermore, the reader sees a silent conflict between the spouses over their son George, in whom they both see their resumption. Being unable to leave the small town and succeed in life, both Elizabeth and her husband Tom live through their son. Tom urges George to go out and make something of his life because he himself never did; Elizabeth feels a "secret bond" with her son.".She associates her own unhappiness, the death of her "secret something," with her marriage to Tom, and thus sees Tom as a threat to George's happiness …show more content…
as well. Her urge to kill Tom, it was just an emotion-induced impulse. Dreams to become a actress are dead, and everything she now has is her son, whom she wants to be more than just a successful and smart man. Elizabeth's love for George is of an obsessive nature. She cannot bear the thought of sharing him even with her own husband, who is after all, George's own father. Overhearing George talking to his father fills her with such rage that she even considers murdering her husband to get rid of him and thus keeping George only for himself. It is really a relief for her to hear George conveying that he had not got much advice from his father.
Babylon Revisited
In F.
Scott Fitzgerald’s “Babylon Revisited“ written in 1931 the protagonist Charlie Wales discovers, that atonement is often more difficult than we think. The Roaring Twenties, time of spending and partying, affected him and as a result of a freely and wild life he lost his wife and lost the custody over his daughter Honoria.After all these events, Charlie came to Paris to have his daughter back. But he continues to flirt with his old life of destruction and extravagance throughout "Babylon Revisited."Charlie's character is driven by guilt from the past, not by hope for the future. The reader can't help but doubt Charlie’s claim of reformation. Doubt is cast because he's still drinking, thought one drink a day, he explains so that the idea of alcohol doesn't get too big in his mind. Charlie intentionally leaves his address to the bartender, because he wants to see his old friends. Why would he do that if he wants to change? He misses his old life and his friends from the past, though he tries to convince himself that he likes the empty Paris, he states that he likes that fact that all Americans are gone due to the The Great Depression. But he is lying to himself. All his actions and especially drinking and his desire to meet his old friends show that he is tempting himself with his old life. Charlie still needs to atone for his past at the end of "Babylon
Revisited."
In Sherwood Anderson’s “Mother“ written in 1919 the protagonist Elizabeth Willard is a frustrated dreamer who hopes that her son can discover the opportunities for creative impulses which she couldn't find. Furthermore, the reader sees a silent conflict between the spouses over their son George, in whom they both see their resumption. Being unable to leave the small town and succeed in life, both Elizabeth and her husband Tom live through their son. Tom urges George to go out and make something of his life because he himself never did; Elizabeth feels a "secret bond" with her son.".She associates her own unhappiness, the death of her "secret something," with her marriage to Tom, and thus sees Tom as a threat to George's happiness …show more content…
as well. Her urge to kill Tom, it was just an emotion-induced impulse. Dreams to become a actress are dead, and everything she now has is her son, whom she wants to be more than just a successful and smart man. Elizabeth's love for George is of an obsessive nature. She cannot bear the thought of sharing him even with her own husband, who is after all, George's own father. Overhearing George talking to his father fills her with such rage that she even considers murdering her husband to get rid of him and thus keeping George only for himself. It is really a relief for her to hear George conveying that he had not got much advice from his father.
Babylon Revisited
In F.
Scott Fitzgerald’s “Babylon Revisited“ written in 1931 the protagonist Charlie Wales discovers, that atonement is often more difficult than we think. The Roaring Twenties, time of spending and partying, affected him and as a result of a freely and wild life he lost his wife and lost the custody over his daughter Honoria.After all these events, Charlie came to Paris to have his daughter back. But he continues to flirt with his old life of destruction and extravagance throughout "Babylon Revisited."Charlie's character is driven by guilt from the past, not by hope for the future. The reader can't help but doubt Charlie’s claim of reformation. Doubt is cast because he's still drinking, thought one drink a day, he explains so that the idea of alcohol doesn't get too big in his mind. Charlie intentionally leaves his address to the bartender, because he wants to see his old friends. Why would he do that if he wants to change? He misses his old life and his friends from the past, though he tries to convince himself that he likes the empty Paris, he states that he likes that fact that all Americans are gone due to the The Great Depression. But he is lying to himself. All his actions and especially drinking and his desire to meet his old friends show that he is tempting himself with his old life. Charlie still needs to atone for his past at the end of "Babylon
Revisited."