The Curious Case of Roger Button

“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” by F. Scott Fitzgerald is only the second fantasy tale written by the author who is synonymous with stories of flappers and high-society (Fitzgerald 1). The characters that Fitzgerald uses in this story show elements of the every changing society of southern America, according to a northerner who was, at the time, fairly well off. The most important characters in the short story are the title character and his father, Roger Button, as they are the characters that get the most attention from the audience. Much can be said about the main character and what he may represent from the pre-Civil War period up to the authors own time of existence. However, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses Roger in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” to depict the idea that social changes were during the Civil War period that would lead up to the society of the 1920s.

Fitzgerald uses Roger Button as a way of showing how America changes by revealing small aspects of the southern culture at the time and how his son, or his product, does not conform to the culture at the time. The idea that Roger Button represents a change in the Civil War south is apparent when he and his wife “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” (Fitzgerald 2). There is a fashion image in this quote that makes having a child seem to be in style with the period. However, the difference between others of the period and that of the Buttons is that they were ahead of fashion, fifty years to be exact. Simple math can show that fifty years after 1860 would equal 1910, not only at the dawn of the new century but ten years after it. Also, the style, according to Fitzgerald, of the time would be to give birth to the child at home, hopefully with a doctor present. The fact that the Buttons choose to have their first child in this fashion is also important because it shows that they, or at least Roger as his wife has no focus in the story whatsoever, instinctively go to the hospital for the birth of the child as best as can be determined. There is no way of knowing whether or not there was any sort debate or discussion between the two parents but the actions of Mr. Button in rushing to the hospital help to lead to the conclusion of instinct over discussion.

Roger Button is portrayed as a prestigious man in his community and is even given the nickname of “Cuff” which refers to cufflinks that a man wears on his sleeves (Fitzgerald 2). The fact that Roger is given this specific nickname implies class and wealth which would be needed in order to possess cufflinks or clothes that would be deemed fashionable during the time. Also, the fact that the family name is Button gives connotations of neatness which goes along with the aspect of class and living the high life. So when the author says that, “Mr. Roger Button, the president of Roger Button & Co., Wholesale Hardware, began to run toward Doctor Keene with much less dignity that was expected from a Southern gentleman of that picturesque period,” the actions of Mr. Button go against what he portrays in his daily life (Fitzgerald 2). The fact that Mr. Button is the president of a company that sells hardware is essential to his role in the story. Hardware is another term for tools, which are used to help build structures that will hopefully be stable. This relates to the character because he helps in producing an extremely different generation than the one Roger resides. Mr. Button breaks his image of fashion and class when he begins to run instead of walk toward the man that has helped deliver his child. This act of running is less dignified because a man of that period should not show panic, which shows weakness in his character. Fitzgerald uses the word picturesque because it implies a still, frozen image which is different from the action that Roger takes, thus showing how he commits an act that is unusual of the time.

The concept of the clothing that the Buttons wear continues to be important, especially to Roger because of his need to be accepted into the community of the time. Mr. Button even tries to force his need of appearance onto his son, Benjamin, when he goes to a department store to get some clothes for him. He tries to convince himself that his son needs boys’ clothes because “the notion of dressing his son in men’s clothes was repugnant to him” (Fitzgerald 7). His preferred goal in finding clothes for his son was to find a rather large boy’s suit and then alter the appearance of his son than that which is natural, including changing his hair color and removing the long beard from his face (Fitzgerald 8). The author goes on to say that Roger would be saving his place in society if he were to manage these changes in the appearance of his son which he treasures so dearly. Roger’s belief that hiding his son’s true appearance would save his status in the society of Baltimore shows how important he finds the opinions of others. He goes so far as pass his son off as his brother when Roger gets to be fifty and Benjamin twenty years old. However, this does mean that as time progresses Roger becomes more comfortable with who his son really is and what he has done.

When Benjamin finally becomes twenty years old, he is allowed to go to work for his father at his hardware company and is also allowed to go to social events, specifically dances. During one outing, in which Benjamin becomes infatuated with a girl, Roger tries to talk with him about his business. Roger tells Benjamin that “’old fellows like me can’t learn new tricks… it’s you youngsters with energy and vitality that have the great future before you’” (Fitzgerald 16). Roger has become accepting of the fact that his generation is not always going to be around and will have to hand over what he knows to his son, or the next generation. His handing over of the company also signifies how generations pass their work onto others so that they are hopefully continued. When he says that he cannot learn new tricks, he is telling his son that he will not be able to compete with up and coming generations who have more energy and vitality than he does. That energy and vitality will be used to build onto what the previous generations have done and, therefore, make it great. The hardware company is representative of America and the passing of Roger’s company to Benjamin is symbolic of the Civil War generation passing their nation on to the next.

The fact that Roger makes the decision to do something that is ahead of his time, he is given a gift that is different from anything of the time. Roger is different from his peers and, at the time, he is shunned for it, even by his family doctor that has been serving him for forty years (Fitzgerald 3). Yet, as time passes he comes to be more accepted in his society that he once reigned over. The ultimate image of Fitzgerald’s tale, is when Mr. Button sees his son, “wrapped in a voluminous white blanket, and partly crammed into one of the cribs, there sat an old man apparently about seventy years of age” (Fitzgerald 5). At this moment, Roger sees the next generation that he has created wrapped in a white blanket. The color white has connotations of purity and innocence, meaning that this generation that will follow Roger’s is, at the moment, without guilt of having done anything to the world. The way Benjamin is resting in the crib is not resting at all; he would have to be very uncomfortable as he is a fully grown man shoved into a crib, which is obviously built for an infant. This shoving of Benjamin into a crib represents how the current generation will not agree with the one that is to come. The fact that Benjamin ages in reverse, and is seventy years old means that he will die in 1930, just after the age of the flapper and the Roaring Twenties, which is known for being a time of social rebellion for the first time in American history. This is an implication that Fitzgerald is bringing the Civil War generation into a meeting with the time that he knows so well. The author is showing how the actions taken in a rebellion of states has lead to a time of social rebellion.

With Roger representing Civil War America and Benjamin representing the America of the Roaring Twenties, Fitzgerald shows how the actions of a country will have internal consequences. Whether they are interpreted as good or bad is at the discretion of those within the country itself. Of course, it is impossible to be aware of all of the consequences that a person’s actions may have, which is what Fitzgerald portrays when Roger rushes to the hospital to meet his son for the first time. On his way there, Roger assumes, just as any person would, that his baby will meet all of his expectations in what a normal baby should be like. However, when he sees his offspring for the first time he is unwilling to believe that his actions have led to what he sees before him. In Fitzgerald’s world the individuals involved in the Civil War are able to see the consequences of their actions.

In writing about something such as “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, F. Scott Fitzgerald is saying that when an individual has the capability to do more than what the norm of the time is, he can create something that will influence the future. The actions of Roger show how he does things that are different from the time in which he lives. Mr. Button tries to be a part of his generation when he goes to get clothes for his son but ultimately recognizes what the next generation is and becomes accepting of it. Mr. Button is a symbol for great ideas and what they do to the current time and help make breakthroughs for the generations to come.

Works Cited
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” 1922. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: And Other Tales of the Jazz Age. Ed. Thomas Fasano. California: Coyote Canyon, 2008. 1-30.