Benjamin Button

By malvarez726

  • At birth (age 70)

    Despite just being born overnight, Benjamin possesses the vocabulary and cininc world view of a seventy-year old. He is unhappy with the condition he finds himself in and wants to be treated respectably. "'Because if you are [my father],' went on the old man querulously, 'I wish you'd get me out of this place-- or, at least, get them to put a comfortable rocker in here,'" (63).

  • At age 5 (age 65)

    Benjamin is sent to kindergarten by his parents, "where he was initiated into the art of pasting green paper on orange paper... He was inclined to drowse off to sleep in the middle of these tasks, a habit that both irratated and frightened his young teacher. To his relief she complained to his parents, and he was removed from the school," (68).

  • At age of 12 (age 58)

    Benjamin begins to discover his miraculous aging process: "But one day, a few weeks after his twelfth birthday , while looking in the mirror, Benjamin made,or thought he made, and astonishing discovery. Did his eyes deceive him, or had his hair turned in the dozen years of his life from white to iron-gray under its concealing dye?.... 'Can it be--?' he thought to himself, or, rather, scarcely dared to think," (68).

  • At age 18 (age 52)

    Benjamin attempts to apply to Yale college despite his elderly looks. Upon meeting with the headmaster, however, he is denied entry to the college under the presumption that he was a man of around 50. Benjamin is greatly embaressed by both the headmaster and the students, and becomes determined to get revenge on Yale: "[Benjamin] would show them! He would go to Harvard, and then they would regret these ill-considered taunts!" (71).
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    At ages 20-35 (ages 50-35)

    Benjamin begins going out socially, and during a dance at the Shelvins' country club he meets his wife-to-be, Hildegarde Moncrief. Benjamin takes over the family hardware buisness, and prospers greatly. Benjamin becomes renound socialite, and is very present in the parties of the day. "The blood flowed with new vigor through his veins.... In addition, Benjamin discovered that he was becomiming more and more attracted by the gay side of life," (75).

  • At age 38 (age 32)

    At this point in his life, Benjamin's "home had for him so little charm that he decided to join the army," (75). Hildegarde, who continued to grow older, mellowed as Benjamin became more excitable. Upon enrolling into the army, Benjamin obtains commision as captain. "Benjamin had become so attached to the activity and excitement of army life that he regreted to give it up," (76). Upon returning home, Benjamin discovers that his aging has continued in reverse, contrary to his prior theory.

  • At age 46 (age 24)

    Benjamin feels more energized than ever: "as the new century gathered headway... his thirst for gayety grew stronger," (77). Benjamin feels more and more tied to his wife of forty-five. He becomes fond of Roscoe, his son who recently graduated from Harvard, and quickly forgets his discovery that he is still aging in reverse.
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    At ages 50-54 (ages 20-16)

    Benjamin enrolls into Harvard, where he makes the football team in his freshman year. The young athlete plays ferociously against Yale, defeating them brutally and becoming "the most celebrated man in college," (78). "[In his senior year] he had grown so slight and frail that one day he was taken by some sophmores to be a freshman, an incident which humiliated him terribly," (78).
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    At ages 60-65 (ages 10-5)

    Benjamin comes to live with his son Roscoe, whose son is born in 1920. Despite encouragement from his son, Benjamin cannot set straight his aging cycle and continues to age in reverse. Benjamin plays with Roscoe's son and even joins him for a year in kindergarten. "No one dislike the little boy whose fresh, cheerful face was crossed with just a hint of sadness, but to Roscoe Button his presence was a source of torment," (82).
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    At ages 66-70 (ages 4-0)

    Benjamin is pulled from kindergarten and spends the remainder of his years under the supervision and care of his nanny. "The past-- the wild charge at the head of his men up San Juan hill.... the days before that when he sat smoking far into the night in the gloomy old Button house of Monroe Street with his grandfather-- all these had faded like unsubstantial dreams from his mind as though they had never been," (83). Slowly, Benjamin's conscience fades away and is left with nothing but blackness