The story of "Babylon Revisited" by F. Scott Fitzgerald is about a father's attempt to regain the custody of his daughter after a series of personal disasters. The two major characters in this story are Charlie, realistic father fighting for his daughter Honoria, and Marion, the unrealistic sister. Charlie's quest to win back Honoria, for example, is also his quest to prove to himself and those who know him that he is a new man. Only a year and half before, he was an unemployed, irresponsible alcoholic with poor taste in friends. He now presents himself to his sister's family and his former friends as a changed man, once again sober and employed, "a reformed sinner" with a new appreciation of personal character as "the eternally valuable element."
             In the beginning of the story, Charlie comes across the barman Alix. "No, no more," Charlie said, "I'm going slow these days." Alix congratulated him: "You were going strong a couple years ago." By the term strong, Charlie showed how much of a drunk or how strong of a drinker he used to be and by his refusal, it showed how he is in the present, a sober man changing his life. "I'll stick to it all right, I've stuck to it for over a year and half now." This just shows that Charlie is a changed man and he plans on keeping it that way. Charlie seems to repeatedly flirt dangerously with his past. He hangs around the Ritz bar, the gathering place for many of his former drinking partners; he leaves the Peters' address with the barman so a former drinking buddy can find him; and he returns to the nightclubs and nude revues he frequently visited in his previous life. On the other hand, he now holds down a well-paying job in Prague, displays a doubtful love for his daughter, is clearly hurt by his wife's death and horrified at his past, repeatedly displays self-control by refusing drinks, and maturely controls his anger when Marion a...