Plot
The plot of the story tells a story of a man, who goes through his life basically backwords. It is about a man who is born old and grows younger as he ages. The plot is of a moderate speed, telling of the stories that Benjamin experience in his life. It mentions how astounded the nurses were, when they found a new born baby look as old as anybody out there. As Ben's father first got a glimpse of his new baby boy,
"Wrapped in a voluminous white blanked, and partly crammed into one of the cribs, there sat an old man apparently about seventy years of age. His sparse hair was almost white, and from his chin dripped a long smoke-colored beard, which waved absurdly back and forth, fanned by the breeze coming in at the window. He looked up at Mr. Button with dim, faded eyes in which lurked a puzzled question." (9-10)
This made the storyline a very interesting one as it rewleased some challenges that his young man was going to have to endure.
Point of View
The point of view is very odd because it is told in a first person view fromt he narrator. You receive information about the life through somebody elses life. One would have thought that it would have been from Ben's view, but Fitzgerald decided to write it from his point of view.
"As long ago as 1860 it was the proper thing to be born at home. At present, so I am told, the high gods of medicine have decreed that the first cries of the young shall be uttered upon the anesthetic air of a hospital, preferably a fashionable one. So young Mr. and Mrs. Roger Button were fifty years ahead of style when they decided, one day in the summer of 1860, that their first baby should be born in a hospital. Whether this anachronism had any bearing upon the astonishing history I am about to set down will never be known. I shall tell you what occurred, and let you judge for yourself." (1-2) This quote is an example of how Fitzgerald uses his writing for narrating this story.
Characterization
Benjamin is the protagonist. He’s the title character, and the story revolves entirely around his life. He meets challenges but maintains his good nature throughout teh story. He’s likeable, and we find ourselves rooting for Benjamin against the odds. When he goes to Yale for school, we’re angry with the registrar for not letting him take classes. When he is returned home, weeping, in his general’s uniform, we feel sorry for him. This is a classic protagonist all the way.
There’s not a single character in the story who doesn’t make Benjamin’s life even harder than it is in the first place. His father is embarrassed by him and makes him pretend to be a baby. His wife yells at him for aging that is beyond his control. His son refuses to acknowledge him as a father. "'Am I mad?' thundered Mr. Button, his terror resolving into rage. 'Is this some ghastly hopsital joke?'". (10) THis show how much Mr. Button is upset that his new son is an elderly man.
Setting
Though it is barely mentioned in "Benjamin Button," the U.S. Civil War is right smack at the start of Benjamin’s life (from 1861-1865). While Benjamin is changing, so is the social and political world around him. Baltimore is particularly important to the story for Fitzgerald’s social stucture. As he tells us of the Buttons, "They held an enviable position, both social and financial, in ante-bellum Baltimore. They were related to This Family and to That Family, which, as every Southerner knew, entitled them to membership in that enormous peerage which largely populated the confederacy" (5). Fitzgerald sets the Buttons in a city where social status really matters and it is there that he able to make the general obsession with society, reputation, and image.
Theme
Identity: "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" is the story of a man who is born old and ages backwards. The story explores the way that age dictates identity; how old we are has quite a bit to do with who we are. And not just where physical appearance is concerned. By being born old, Benjamin is born not just with the body and face of an old man, but with the mind and emotions of an old man. Even though he’s a newborn, then, he enjoys the company of old men. As he gets younger physically, his personality changes accordingly: he becomes more vivacious and social.
Transformation: "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" explores a particular kind of transformation: aging. The story reminds us that physical changes are necessarily accompanied by personality changes: older people tend to be less lively and more set in their ways, while younger people tend to be emotional and eager to learn. This transformation is a way for us to learn more about ourselves.
Family: We tend to think of family as the people who support us at all possible times. This is not the case in "Benjamin Button." Because Benjamin is different, his parents have difficulty accepting him for who he is. They are able to love him only in so far as he plays along with a charade of normality. Later, Benjamin encounters the same problem with his wife, and eventually, his son. Still, if they are unable to love him unconditionally, they are still there for Benjamin out of a sense of family obligation.
