Response to "Babylon Revisited"

I'm quite surprised that the author of the blog post found little drama or emotion in this particular piece, but I'd be willing to bet their opinion of the story has changed since we went over the story in class. The title alone signified to me that the main character was visiting a place that was significant to him in the past, and while I didn't immediately understand the references to the characters Charlie was naming off, I was confident that the significance of these characters would be revealed to me as the story unfolded.
   I'll admit, I'm not exactly sure if this response is a response to the initial blog post or a response to the story in general, so I'll just do my best here.
   In response to the author of the initial post, it seems that the story may have been read in haste, as many assigned readings are. I, in fact, finished the story just before class today, but I found it engrossing, and I did find myself emotionally invested in the story and the characters. The author did a fine job of letting the reader know that the main character was re-introduced to a place that had great meaning to the life of the main character, and that the people mentioned in the initial conversation were as important to Charlie's experience in Paris as the backdrop was.
  At the time this piece was written, I think the intent of the author was to convey that Charlie was employed during the economic boom just prior to the Great Depression, but the job itself, in the context of character and story development, was of little importance. What was important concerning Charlie's livelihood was that he had been successful, and that he was no longer as financially successful as he once was. His success is also symbolic, as the sympathetic narrator states "It had been given, even the most wildly squandered sum, as an offering to destiny that he might not remember the things most worth remembering, the things that now he would always remember-his child taken from his control, his wife escaped to a grave in Vermont." In this, the author is stating that while one may be financially quite well off, the money and the extravagances that accompany such success may very easily avert one's eyes to what is truly important.
   To say that Charlie had a lack of emotional response is far too broad. If I were to guess, it seems that Charlie was continuing to own up to the negative effects his excessive year-and-a-half in Paris. The poorly timed visit of Lorraine and Duncan while Charlie was trying to talk Marion into giving him custody of his daughter, Honoria, was a wonderful metaphor for your past coming back to haunt you during a moment of intense vulnerability. After finding out that his tumultuous past, and the devastating reminder of that past (the unexpected presence of Lorraine and Duncan), Charlie lost his ability to talk Marion into giving Charlie sole custody of Honoria. But, in proving that he had indeed changed his ways, denying a second drink from the bartender proved that, while Charlie was certainly momentarily devastated, his desire to be reunited with his daughter far outweighed his fondness for drink.