THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON: PART 1 - Paulmeier | Learn English at EnglishCafe

This begins a series of thirteen blogs devoted to the reading of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which he wrote in 1920, and is now in the public domain.  You may have seen the recent feature film , starring Brad Pitt in the title role.  The film and the story are very, very different from each other, as you will notice.

To my mind, there is no better way to learn a language than by reading along as a native speaker reads a text.  That’s why I offer you this American classic to add to my earlier readings of novels and poems.

I recommend that once you have listened to the entire episode, you go back and play it again, using your pause button and repeating what you have heard me say, copying my rhythm, intonation, and pronunciation as closely as you can.  You can also expand your vocabulary by looking up all unfamiliar words.  If you don’t have an English dictionary, try the Free Dictionary.

To hear Paul’s reading, click the following link:

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Serialized in Thirteen Parts

Part 1

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.

I shall tell you what occurred, and let you judge for yourself.

The Roger Buttons held an enviable position, both social and financial, in Antebellum Baltimore.  They were related to the This Family and the That Family, which, as every Southerner knew, entitled them to membership in that enormous peerage which largely populated the Confederacy.  This was their first experience with the charming old custom of having babies—Mr. Button was naturally nervous.  He hoped it would be a boy so that he could be sent to Yale College in Connecticut, at which institution Mr. Button himself had been known for four years by the somewhat obvious nickname of "Cuff."

On the September morning consecrated to the enormous event he arose nervously at six o'clock, dressed himself, adjusted an impeccable stock, and hurried forth through the streets of Baltimore to the hospital, to determine whether the darkness of the night had borne in new life upon its bosom.

When he was approximately a hundred yards from the Maryland Private Hospital for Ladies and Gentlemen he saw Doctor Keene, the family physician, descending the front steps, rubbing his hands together with a washing movement—as all doctors are required to do by the unwritten ethics of their profession.

Mr. Roger Button, the president of Roger Button & Co., Wholesale Hardware, began to run toward Doctor Keene with much less dignity than was expected from a Southern gentleman of that picturesque period. “Doctor Keene!" he called.  "Oh, Doctor Keene!"

The doctor heard him, faced around, and stood waiting, a curious expression settling on his harsh, medicinal face as Mr. Button drew near.

"What’s happened?" demanded Mr. Button, as he came up with a gasping rush,“What was it?  How is she? A boy?  Who is it?  What---"

"Talk sense!" said Doctor Keene sharply. He appeared somewhat irritated.

"Is the child born?" begged Mr. Button.

Doctor Keene frowned.  "Why, yes, I suppose so—after a fashion.”  Again he threw a curious glance at Mr. Button.

"Is my wife all right?"

"Yes."

"Is it a boy or a girl?"

"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?"

"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 again!  Good-bye!"

Then he turned sharply, and without another word climbed into his phaeton, which was waiting at the curbstone, and drove severely away.

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