# Benjamin Button — Short Fiction character guide

> Benjamin Button in Short Fiction by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** Mr. Button, Benjamin, Mr. Benjamin Button, Button, little Benjamin

**First appearance:** 0000-tarquin-of-cheapside

## Snapshot

Born old and aging backward, Benjamin Button must live his life in reverse, greeting his father as a stranger and falling in love as he grows younger.

## Who they are

Benjamin arrives as a bearded infant in dotted socks and pink pants, and his father calls him Methuselah. As he grows younger, he becomes his father's companion, then a young man at a dance where a beautiful woman stops his heart. His inverted life turns every ordinary milestone — school, marriage, fatherhood — into a fresh impossibility, and the story's comedy slowly darkens into something close to grief.

## In the story

### [The Curious Case of Benjamin Button](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/chapters/the-curious-case-of-benjamin-button)

Protagonist who ages backward from an old man to an infant.

### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/chapters/i)

The newborn son, who appears as a man of about seventy, with white hair, a long beard, and a querulous, elderly voice.

### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/chapters/ii)

The newborn son who appears as an old man with a beard, watery eyes, and ancient teeth; he is dressed in a child's costume and called Methuselah.

### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/chapters/iii)

Now twelve years old but appearing elderly; notices his hair turning from white to iron-gray and his wrinkles fading; negotiates to wear long trousers; continues to defy his father's expectations by reading encyclopedias and smoking.

### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/chapters/iv)

At eighteen, Benjamin appears as a man of fifty, passes Yale's entrance exams, but is expelled by the registrar who refuses to believe his age.

### [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/chapters/v)

Now twenty years old, begins working at Roger Button & Co. and attends a dance where he falls in love with Hildegarde Moncrief.

### [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/chapters/vi)

Engaged to Hildegarde Moncrief; subject of scandalous rumors about his age and origins.

### [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/chapters/vii)

Experiences renewed vigor and success in business; grows disillusioned with his wife; joins the Spanish-American War and returns a decorated officer.

### [VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/chapters/viii)

Returns home to find himself growing younger, causing marital tension; he takes up golf and dancing, becoming socially active.

### [IX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/chapters/ix)

Enters Harvard as a freshman, excels in football, but physically regresses through college; after graduation lives with his son Roscoe and is treated as a burden.

### [Benjamin Button's Military Ambition](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/chapters/x)

Receives a commission as brigadier-general and attempts to report for duty, but is humiliated by his youthful appearance.

### [XI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/chapters/xi)

Now appearing as a young boy, attends kindergarten with his grandson, regresses to infantile dependency, loses all memories of his past.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/characters/benjamin_button
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/characters