The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a short story written by F. Scott Fitzgerald and originally published in 1922.

Benjamin Button is a boy born in the American city of Baltimore who has the physical appearance of a 70-year-old man and is able to speak and reason like a person of that age.

As Benjamin grows older, he grows physically younger. The story focuses on how this strange situation affects Benjamin's life and the people around him.

Benjamin’s reverse aging brings both opportunities and losses. He marries Hildegarde, has a son named Roscoe, helps run the family business, serves in the Spanish-American War, and later returns to school as his body continues to grow younger.

His changing age gradually estranges him from his wife and son. By the end, Benjamin has regressed through childhood into infancy, and his memories and awareness fade until nothing remains.

"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 anesthetic air of a hospital, preferably a fashionable one."