The Consequences of the Great Depression in Regard to F. Scott Fitzgerald's 'Babylon Revisited'

Seminar paper from the year 2014 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 1,7, University of Stuttgart, language: English, abstract: 'Stocks rise and fall, people load or work, but they go on forever.' This quotation is from American author, F. Scott Fitzgerald's short story 'Babylon Revisited', which was published in 1931. The short story includes expatriate themes of the early 20th century in Paris that shapes the story of Charlie Wales, a businessman who had a lavish lifestyle before he lost his family and wealth after the crash. The Great Depression that came along with the crash changed the lives of wealthy Americans for the worse, who lived in splendour in Paris before. This term paper will analyze the consequences of the Great Depression shown in 'Babylon Revisited' and how life, on the contrary, was in the Roaring Twenties. As the quotation above explains, everything, such as the stocks and the people go on forever and so does Charlie Wales.