Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
When Benjamin is a child, his father makes him dye his hair brown so that he doesn’t look so old. Later, when Benjamin appears to be a child, his son Roscoe wants him to wear fake eyeglasses and a beard. This is an example of the sort of ludicrous humor we see everywhere in the story; it’s ridiculous that Benjamin’s family thinks they can hide his amazing condition with a few fake props. It’s also painfully apparent that what bothers everyone about Benjamin is the issue of keeping up appearances for the outside world. What matters isn’t that Benjamin is aging backwards, but that everyone might see that Benjamin is aging backwards and ostracize the Button family on account of it.