No, not triplets!" answered the doctor cuttingly. "What's more, you can go and see for yourself. And get another doctor. I brought you into the world, young man, and I've been physician to your family for forty years, but I'm through with you! I don't want to see you or any of your relatives ever again! Good-bye!" Ormond Joins Fincher's 'Benjamin Button' ". ComingSoon.net. October 18, 2006 . Retrieved April 28, 2007.

Thus, another, related theme in Fitzgerald’s tale is the difference between appearance and reality. For example, Hildegarde focuses on surface alone, misreading who Benjamin is on the inside because of how he looks on the outside. Benjamin is hardly any better; his initial interest in Hildegarde is similarly based on her looks, and he throws her aside when she begins to age visibly. Later in the story, the military, Harvard officials, and even Benjamin’s own son treat him as nothing more than a child, despite his many years of wisdom and experience. In the end, Benjamin must become a child because he looks like one. Here now!" cried Doctor Keene in a perfect passion of irritation, "I'll ask you to go and see for yourself. Outrageous!" He snapped the last word out in almost one syllable, then he turned away muttering: "Do you imagine a case like this will help my professional reputation? One more would ruin me—ruin anybody." "What's the matter?" demanded Mr. Button appalled. "Triplets?" Benjamin's growing unhappiness at home was compensated for by his many new interests. He took up golf and made a great success of it. He went in for dancing: in 1906 he was an expert at "The Boston," and in 1908 he was considered proficient at the "Maxine," while in 1909 his "Castle Walk" was the envy of every young man in town. They approached a group, of which Miss Moncrief was the centre. Reared in the old tradition, she curtsied low before Benjamin. Yes, he might have a dance. He thanked her and walked away—staggered away. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” began as a satirical work of fantasy written by American novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald in the early 1920’s. Although he was proud of it, Fitzgerald struggled to find a willing publisher because the story departed so dramatically from his more popular flapper stories. Nevertheless, Colliers magazine accepted “Benjamin Button” for its May 27, 1922, issue, and the story also appeared in the “Fantasies” section of Fitzgerald’s anthology Tales of the Jazz Age (1922).A grotesque picture formed itself with dreadful clarity before the eyes of the tortured man—a picture of himself walking through the crowded streets of the city with this appalling apparition stalking by his side. Why do you think that fantasy and stories that manipulate time are so popular in our culture at the moment? What are some of the films, TV shows, and books that reflect these trends? Are you a fan of fantasy and stories that play with time, or do you prefer more traditional forms of storytelling? When he came downstairs Hildegarde was waiting for him. She appeared annoyed, and he wondered if she had at last discovered that there was something amiss. It was with an effort to relieve the tension between them that he broached the matter at dinner in what he considered a delicate way. As long ago as 1860 it was the proper thing to be born at home. At present, so I am told, the high gods of medicine have decreed that the first cries of the young shall be uttered upon the anaesthetic air of a hospital, preferably a fashionable one. So young Mr. and Mrs. Roger Button were fifty years ahead of style when they decided, one day in the summer of 1860, that their first baby should be born in a hospital. Whether this anachronism had any bearing upon the astonishing history I am about to set down will never be known.

If you enjoyed The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, you might like Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, also available in Penguin Classics. ASC Names Feature Film Nominees". ASCMag.com. January 7, 2009. Archived from the original on January 29, 2009 . Retrieved January 7, 2009. Mr. Button's son's voice followed him down into the hall: "And a cane, father. I want to have a cane."He was as puzzled as any one else at the apparently advanced age of his mind and body at birth. He read up on it in the medical journal, but found that no such case had been previously recorded. At his father's urging he made an honest attempt to play with other boys, and frequently he joined in the milder games—football shook him up too much, and he feared that in case of a fracture his ancient bones would refuse to knit. They pulled up behind a handsome brougham whose passengers were disembarking at the door. A lady got out, then an elderly gentleman, then another young lady, beautiful as sin. Benjamin started; an almost chemical change seemed to dissolve and recompose the very elements of his body. A rigour passed over him, blood rose into his cheeks, his forehead, and there was a steady thumping in his ears. It was first love. His social activities, of course, interfered to some extent with his business, but then he had worked hard at wholesale hardware for twenty-five years and felt that he could soon hand it on to his son, Roscoe, who had recently graduated from Harvard. He was in a dilemma. He was due at the registrar's in five minutes. There seemed to be no help for it—he must go as he was. He did. "Good-morning," said the registrar politely. "You've come to inquire about your son." There can be no doubt, though, that the rattle bored him, and that he found other and more soothing amusements when he was left alone. For instance, Mr. Button discovered one day that during the preceding week he had smoked more cigars than ever before—a phenomenon, which was explained a few days later when, entering the nursery unexpectedly, he found the room full of faint blue haze and Benjamin, with a guilty expression on his face, trying to conceal the butt of a dark Havana. This, of course, called for a severe spanking, but Mr. Button found that he could not bring himself to administer it. He merely warned his son that he would "stunt his growth."

The plot develops chronologically. People say the new addition to the family resembles the grandfather, who is initially upset by the sentiment. The grandfather soon recognizes a kindred spirit in his newly-born but aged grandson and together they enjoy sitting together, ruminating over the day's happenings. On the part of the two people most concerned there was no wavering. So many of the stories about her fiancé were false that Hildegarde refused stubbornly to believe even the true one. In vain General Moncrief pointed out to her the high mortality among men of fifty—or, at least, among men who looked fifty; in vain he told her of the instability of the wholesale hardware business. Hildegarde had chosen to marry for mellowness, and marry she did…. On the evening of November 11, 1918, someone is born with the appearance and maladies of an elderly man. His mother, Caroline, dies soon after childbirth and his father, wealthy manufacturer Thomas Button, abandons him on the porch of a nursing home. Caretaker Queenie and cook Mr. Weathers find the baby, and she raises him as her own, naming him Benjamin. As the years pass, Benjamin physically blends in with the elderly residents but has the mind of a child. Physically aging in reverse, he transitions from a wheelchair to crutches and learns to walk.Filming [ edit ] Some filming was conducted in the Garden District of New Orleans, including this home at 2707 Coliseum St. Parisian scenes shooting in Old Montreal Needless to say, Baltimore eventually received the couple to its bosom. Even old General Moncrief became reconciled to his son-in-law when Benjamin gave him the money to bring out his History of the Civil War in twenty volumes, which had been refused by nine prominent publishers. At this a look of utter terror spread itself over girl's face. She rose to her feet and seemed about to fly from the hall, restraining herself only with the most apparent difficulty.