Babylon: A Further Look

In class not that long ago; we discussed F. Scott Fitzgerald and some of his work. I previously read "The Great Gatsby" as a senior in high school, so I am familiar with Fitzgerald. However, senior year of high school was four years, several books, and a lifetime of personal memories ago, so my recollection of Fitzgerald is not as sharp as it once was. When we were in class, we talked about the story "Babylon Revisited", which is the story of a once-wealthy man, Charlie, returning to Paris to drop in on his daughter, Honoria. Along the way he somewhat recalls a past life of debauchery and indulgence.

I have previously heard of Babylon before. This will sound silly, but in an adventure video game that I used to play when I was a small child, named Sonic the Hedgehog, contained a zone, or level, called the Labyrinth Zone. The zone is a ruin-like maze and is partially submerged in water. The zone was built in an image of Babylon, with its walls, the rivers around it, and the fact that Babylon is now in ruins.

I wanted to look further into the issue of Babylon being used in the title for the, so I researched it on the Wikipedia website. It gave me a very detailed explanation of Babylon and its entire history. That is what Wikipedia is known for; it is pretty much a Google-type search engine but as an encyclopedia. When I was perusing the definition, I came across something that struck my eye, a literal neon sign that caught my attention.

A section of the definition, titled "Babylon in Culture and Media", was my neon sign. Underneath that heading, it reads: "Babylon has achieved considerable prominence throughout the ages as a symbol and by-word of decadence and corruption. (Babylon)"

When the main character, Charlie, lived in Paris, it was during the Roaring Twenties. During this time, people had a lot of money and lived over in Paris. They were always out partying, drinking, carousing,

...