By presenting a rather unusual scenario (a man who ages backwards), "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" explores the nature of life, death, and aging in the rest of us. This story poses several questions: what does age really reflect of a person? What is the value of youth, and what is the value of experience? How do we deal with our own mortality and how does the knowledge of our own impending deaths affect the way we live our lives? These are the questions examined in this bittersweet story.
Questions About Life, Consciousness, and Existence
- How does Benjamin die? How does Fitzgerald treat the end of Benjamin’s life, and what effect does this have on the story’s tone?
- "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" is the story of something extraordinary; but what does it have to say about "normal" life?
- Fitzgerald writes that Benjamin quite simply "took life as he found it" (1.3.6). How is that Benjamin is able to so calmly accept what is happening to him?
Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
Benjamin makes the most of the life he is given.
Benjamin is unable to enjoy his life because of his condition.