The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Plot
This story is an interesting type of story because the main characters life is basically in reverse. Benjamin Button is born into the Button family in 1860 in ante-bellum Baltimore.(pg. 5) When his father finally gets to the hospital and asks to see his child, everyone seems astonished at the sight of the newborn that they don't know how to tell him. When Mr. Button finally gets to see his child, he is also astonished at the sight of a 70 year old man. Mr. Button doesn't know what to make of this birth and therefore throughout the story, Mr. Button and Benjamin's relationship seems distant. Benjamin realizes that he feels more at ease when he is around his grandfather rather than his father because his father does not understand him. His father is almost disgraced by looking at his son, so he does what he thinks is right to fix this problem, he tries to make Benjamin look like a normal boy. ( pg. 17) One night, when Benjamin is about 50, he meets what is soon to be his future wife Hildegarde. He falls in love with her and eventually they conceive a child. Towards the end of the story, Benjamin just keeps getting younger and younger, until he becomes an infant.

Point of View
In The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, the point of view is set in third person. We know that this is set in third person because the names are listed throughout the story in dialogue i.e. Benjamin, Hildegarde, etc. This point of view is important in this story because it allows us as readers to understand the different sides of the story. For example, when Mr.Button asks to see his child in the hospital, the dialogue allows us to see his emotions and the emotions and thoughts of the other characters. This type of point of view also helps us to understand and visualize the lives of the other characters and how they are in relation with the main character, Benjamin. An example of this in the story would be on pg. 35. " Fifty  seemed to Benjamin a glorious age. He longed passionately to be fifty." " I've always said, " went on Hildegarde, " that I'd rather marrry a man of fifty and be taken care of than many a man of thirty and take care of him." This statement especially shows the thoughts and emotions of Benjamin and his wife Hildegarde when she is talking about what she wants in a man. Without this type of point of view, we may have not been able to understand why Hildegarde picked Benjamin to be her husband.

Characterization
Benjamin Button is born in 1860, with the looks of a 70 year old man. He grows up like this, but essentially is growing younger in appearance. When he finally reaches infant age he must be taken care of because he can no longer fend for himself. When he is younger, as in he has only been alive a couple of years, he realizes that he enjoys his grandfather's acquaintance more than his fathers. He knows that his grandfather understands the same things that he is going through which makes him feel more at ease. ( pg. 22) At the young age of 50, Benjamin meets his wife Hildegarde. Hildegarde likes Benjamin because he is not like anyone she has ever met. ( pg. 34)

Setting
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is set in Baltimore, Maryland  in 1860 when Benjamin Button is just a boy. As Benjamin gets older, he begins to experience new things in life and moves different places. When he is of college age, he tries to attend Yale college, but is rejected for being too " old looking" to attend. In 1898, Benjamin  decides to join the army and be in the Spanish- American War. ( pg. 40) Benjamin is tired of his home situation with his wife that he decides to join the army in hopes of getting more excitement in his life as he gradually gets younger. Towards the end of the story, as Benjamin is almost a child if not an infant now, he goes to live with his son Roscoe.

Theme
One of the most important themes in this short story is to be yourself. If Benjamin was not himself throughout his life, he would not have become as successful as he became. Another important theme is to not judge a book by its cover. Benjamin Button is misunderstood almost his whole life as being someone who could never accomplish anything in his life because of his strange situation, however he overcame that and became on that showed everyone that he could be accomplished. Today, we base most of our views of people on looks, whether they are white, black, hispanic etc. We segregate people into different categories according to their appearance, not their personality. We pre-judge people by what they look like and how they act, before we even really meet them. This is exactly what happens to Benjamin throughout the whole story. He is seen as an old man when he is born, and therefore there is something wrong with him. He never really fits in with anyone and no one understands what he is going through. Many people have these same emotions that Benjamin felt his whole life and the theme allows us to see the point of view of the other person that we may be ridiculing for being different. ( pg. 43)