The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Benjamin Button is born as an old man. At the hospital where he was born, he is just thrown aside in the back of the room in basically a box. In the time period when this story was written it was common to just cast aside people society deemed useless. Back in that time, they often sent people, more specifically women and the elderly, to asylums. Before depression was well known and understood like it is today, people with it (once again mostly women) were put into asylums never to be released. Even now in modern times, the elderly are just dropped off at a nursing home and left there until they die. Why do we treat our elderly like this?
In the middle of the story when Benjamin is actually a “younger” man, he is well respected and admired. He does well in society. I think that this shows the emphasis American culture puts on the youth. As Benjamin became younger, the people took care of him without asking questions. His son was not happy about it but Benjamin was taken care of by a nanny and went to kindergarten and it was ok for him to be helpless, as we think it is for all babies. Yet, we do not think it ok for the elderly to be so helpless. I think of the part in the story where Benjamin receives a letter asking him to go back into the war, but when he goes he is rejected because he appears too young. It is devastating to him. The youth are looked upon with such an emphasis because they still have a future and things to experience, but the elderly are looked upon less appreciatively because they have already gone through their “best days” and reached all that they could be so now they are just living what is left of their lives. Its really sad to think about.
Reputation is a big part of the story as well. Benjamin’s father and his son are both embarrassed by him and do not want Benjamin to ruin the family reputation. I think there is a connection between this and how the elderly are viewed. A person’s reputation could be damaged if someone in the family is seen as useless by society. So, by being burdened by the elderly family member rather then going out and socializing with your peers could be viewed negatively by those peers in society. Appearance was very important in the time periods in which this was written and supposedly took place.