30 pages 1 hour read

F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1922

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Background

Historical Context: World War I and the Lost Generation

Fitzgerald was a member of the so-called Lost Generation, a group of expatriate artists in the interwar period who exerted a profound influence on culture and ideas. The term was coined by Gertrude Stein and popularized by Ernest Hemingway. Benjamin Button’s progress through life is marked by an alternating succession of war and peacetime, a reflection of the worldview shaping Fitzgerald and other postwar authors.

World War I was a cataclysm that defined the first decades of the 20th century. Millions of soldiers and civilians were killed, tens of millions more were injured, and countless scores on top of that were traumatized. The war inaugurated an era of technological and chemical warfare, contributing to the distinctly dehumanizing character of the conflict.

Fitzgerald, unlike his friend Hemingway, did not see combat. He enlisted and was mobilized to Alabama for training, but Armistice Day arrived before he was deployed overseas. The near-miss with the conflict colored his view of war and influenced his depictions of it in “Benjamin Button” and other works, including The Great Gatsby and Tender Is the Night. Scholars have devoted considerable attention to Fitzgerald’s relationship with Hemingway, including the differences in their depictions of war and masculinity. Scholar James H.

Related Titles

By F. Scott Fitzgerald

Study Guide

logo

Babylon Revisited

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Babylon Revisited

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Study Guide

logo

Bernice Bobs Her Hair

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Bernice Bobs Her Hair

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Plot Summary

logo

Crazy Sunday

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Crazy Sunday

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Plot Summary

logo

May Day

F. Scott Fitzgerald

May Day

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Study Guide

logo

Tender Is the Night

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Tender Is the Night

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Plot Summary

logo

The Beautiful and Damned

F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Beautiful and Damned

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Plot Summary

logo

The Diamond as Big as the Ritz

F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Diamond as Big as the Ritz

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Study Guide

logo

The Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Study Guide

logo

The Last Tycoon

F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Last Tycoon

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Study Guide

logo

This Side of Paradise

F. Scott Fitzgerald

This Side of Paradise

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Study Guide

logo

Winter Dreams

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Winter Dreams

F. Scott Fitzgerald