Questions to Consider

Bernice Bobs Her Hair

1. What comment do you think Fitzgerald is making about youth culture?
2. What is the significance of Bernice's last utterance – "Scalp the selfish thing"?
3. How do you think Fitzgerald defines womanhood and femininity in this story? Are these concepts definable at all?
4. Can you envision any version of this story that could involve male instead of female main characters, or is the tale necessarily tied to women? Why or why not?

Babylon Revisited

1. Consider the opening line of "Babylon Revisited." What is the effect of beginning in the middle of a conversation this way?
2. As readers, are we supposed to be on Marion's side, or on Charlie's side? To what degree can we be sympathetic to Charlie? To Marion?
3. Does Charlie seem like he would make a good father? What makes you think so? Are you rooting for him to get his daughter back?
4. Does Charlie deserve what he gets?
5. At the end of the story, is Charlie optimistic? Is the author? Should the reader be?

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

1. Does "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" have a moral, or attempt to teach its readers a lesson of sorts?
2. What is the effect of the first-person narration, and why does the narrator reveal himself so minimally?
3. Is "Benjamin Button" funny, tragic, or both?
4. How sympathetic are you to Benjamin’s character? As a reader, can you relate to him at all, despite the peculiarity of his circumstance?
5. What does "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" teach us about the nature of age?
6. Well-executed short stories usually cover a short period of time. How is it that "Benjamin Button" functions well as a short piece yet covers the course of 70 years?
7. Why do you think Fitzgerald breaks his story into two parts? What effect does this structuring have on the story?

Extras