3. Introductory Elements
• The time in our life.
• The beginning, middle and the end.
• The religion conception of time
• The astronomic conception of time
• We humans always come up with the idea of "before" when it
comes to anything related to our life.
• Numerous studies about human evolution, or the origin of the
universe, and even the very origin of God.
4. Questions
• Can we find reason in the things that happened in the past?
• Can we change what happened or reverse the life cycle of
men?
• Can we change the chronological order of life?
5. The tale
• From this perspective, the work of F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-
1940), "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, published in
1922" creates a "joke" with the human idea of time, which we
are not new to getting old, but yes, the opposite.
• In this work there is a mix between fantasy and realism to
show the pursuit of changing the rejuvenation that we have
converted into obsession and transforming the human idea of
time into a classic fable of the modernist American period.
6. Fantastic Elements – Birth,
• Right at the beginning of the text we have the birth of
Benjamin: there is no explanation of how the birth of a young
elder happened. Only the place is spoken and the baby was
born at the beginning of the work. Biological elements are not
provided to us by the author.
• After that, the society that scares at first because of an old
human being born, but they soon forget. In this respect there
is no context of reality, but of fiction.
• The rejuvenation of the main character that everyone notices,
especially Hildegarde, because when Button returns from the
war (which he participates in) she soon realizes that he is
much younger than when they met years earlier.
7.
8. The cult of Youth - Vanity
• During the story of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, the
youth of modern man is present, whether in his machines, in
music or in his lifestyle.
• In the story, Benjamin goes to war, leaving Hildergarde alone
for a long time, and returning home, his skin and body is
stronger and healthier than ever.
• There is a dilemma then in this context: Benjamin is no longer
interested in his wife.
• Button is always younger than his older wife. he didn’t want
her because of love, but for beauty.
9.
10. Relations to the text in nowadays
• It shows us what we are: loves based on appearance, but not
on feeling. It seems that both men in the 1920s and those in
the 21st century have similar problems.
• So, Button can tell you a little bit about what happens today,
because people often want to be accompanied by young,
beautiful and willing people, but almost never by someone
older.
• This cult of youth is between the lines of the text as it strikes
us as this perspective between what is new and old, beautiful
and ugly.
