"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" is a fantasy short story written by F. Scott Fitzgerald that was published in the Collier's Magazine on May 27, 1922.
The story is set around the titular Benjamin Button, who has a condition where he ages backwards, being born an elderly man that gets younger as the years passed.
The short story was adapted into a full length film in 2008 that starred Brad Pitt as the eponymous character and a stage musical in 2019.
The short story contains tropes of:
- Age-Gap Romance: There's a very twisty and complicated example with Benjamin and Hildegarde. They meet and marry when they're both in their twenties but since Benjamin ages backwards, he has the physical appearance and mentality of a 50-year-old which causes observers to tut about how a young and beautiful lady like Hildegarde shouldn't be marrying a middle-aged man like him. After about thirty years pass, Benjamin and Hildegarde's roles have become flipped with Benjamin reverse-aging to his twenties and Hildegarde normal-aging to her fifties, and observers are now clucking their tongues about how a young and spry man like Benjamin shouldn't be tied down to a nagging older woman whose beauty has long since faded.
- Born as an Adult: The eponymous Benjamin Button is born as a fully grown elderly man.
- Is This a Joke?: When Roger Button first sees that his newborn child is, in fact, an elderly man, he demands to know if the hospital is playing a joke. Years later, when Benjamin is 18 (and looking 50), he tries to gain admittance to Yale. The dean throws him out for trying to pull such a prank, despite Benjamin's protests. Late in his life when Benjamin appears 10, he attempts to rejoin the Army. The other soldiers play along until he presents official military documents, and is told that this isn't funny anymore.
- Merlin Sickness: Benjamin Button, who was born as a eldery man, suffers from an strange illness that makes him younger as he ages.
- Ramming Always Works: Although it's completely unintentional since the person manning the helm is shot, a tugboat manages to sink a German U-Boat by ramming straight into it.
- Surprise Multiple Birth: Discussed but subverted. Roger Button asks Doctor Keene if his wife’s had triplets upon seeing Keene’s bad mood after the delivery. The truth is an even bigger shock, as his child, Benjamin, was born as an elderly man who ages backwards.
