The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

by

F. Scott Fitzgerald

General Moncrief Character Analysis

General Moncrief is Hildegarde’s father, making him Benjamin’s father-in-law. General Moncrief is powerful and widely respected in Baltimore, so it’s a big deal when he doesn’t approve of Hildegarde and Benjamin’s engagement. For Moncrief, it’s unthinkable that a woman as beautiful and desirable as his daughter would marry a man like Benjamin, who looks roughly 30 years older than her. However, Moncrief’s opinion of Benjamin changes in the years following the wedding, when Benjamin becomes a prominent and successful figure in society himself. It also helps that Benjamin gives General Moncrief the money to self-publish a book he wrote that was previously rejected by a large number of publishers. From this point on, Moncrief approves of his son-in-law.

General Moncrief Quotes in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The The Curious Case of Benjamin Button quotes below are all either spoken by General Moncrief or refer to General Moncrief. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Age, Development, and Identity Theme Icon
).
Chapter 6 Quotes

So many of the stories about her fiancé were false that Hildegarde refused stubbornly to believe even the true one. In vain General Moncrief pointed out to her the high mortality among men of fifty—or, at least, among men who looked fifty; in vain he told her of the instability of the wholesale hardware business. Hildegarde had chosen to marry for mellowness—and marry she did….

Related Characters: Benjamin Button, Hildegarde Moncrief, Roger Button, General Moncrief
Page Number: 172
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 7 Quotes

In the fifteen years between Benjamin Button’s marriage in 1880 and his father’s retirement in 1895, the family fortune was doubled—and this was due largely to the younger member of the firm.

Needless to say, Baltimore eventually received the couple to its bosom. Even old General Moncrief became reconciled to his son-in-law when Benjamin gave him the money to bring out his “History of the Civil War” in twenty volumes, which had been refused by nine prominent publishers.

Related Characters: Benjamin Button, Hildegarde Moncrief, Roger Button, General Moncrief
Page Number: 173
Explanation and Analysis:

In the early days of their marriage Benjamin had worshipped her. But, as the years passed, her honey-colored hair became an unexciting brown, the blue enamel of her eyes assumed the aspect of cheap crockery—moreover, and most of all, she had become too settled in her ways, too placid, too content, too anemic in her excitements, and too sober in her taste. As a bride it had been she who had “dragged” Benjamin to dances and dinners—now conditions were reversed. She went out socially with him, but without enthusiasm, devoured already by that eternal inertia which comes to live with each of us one day and stays with us to the end.

Related Characters: Benjamin Button, Hildegarde Moncrief, Roger Button, General Moncrief
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 173
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Curious Case of Benjamin Button LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button PDF

General Moncrief Quotes in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The The Curious Case of Benjamin Button quotes below are all either spoken by General Moncrief or refer to General Moncrief. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Age, Development, and Identity Theme Icon
).
Chapter 6 Quotes

So many of the stories about her fiancé were false that Hildegarde refused stubbornly to believe even the true one. In vain General Moncrief pointed out to her the high mortality among men of fifty—or, at least, among men who looked fifty; in vain he told her of the instability of the wholesale hardware business. Hildegarde had chosen to marry for mellowness—and marry she did….

Related Characters: Benjamin Button, Hildegarde Moncrief, Roger Button, General Moncrief
Page Number: 172
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 7 Quotes

In the fifteen years between Benjamin Button’s marriage in 1880 and his father’s retirement in 1895, the family fortune was doubled—and this was due largely to the younger member of the firm.

Needless to say, Baltimore eventually received the couple to its bosom. Even old General Moncrief became reconciled to his son-in-law when Benjamin gave him the money to bring out his “History of the Civil War” in twenty volumes, which had been refused by nine prominent publishers.

Related Characters: Benjamin Button, Hildegarde Moncrief, Roger Button, General Moncrief
Page Number: 173
Explanation and Analysis:

In the early days of their marriage Benjamin had worshipped her. But, as the years passed, her honey-colored hair became an unexciting brown, the blue enamel of her eyes assumed the aspect of cheap crockery—moreover, and most of all, she had become too settled in her ways, too placid, too content, too anemic in her excitements, and too sober in her taste. As a bride it had been she who had “dragged” Benjamin to dances and dinners—now conditions were reversed. She went out socially with him, but without enthusiasm, devoured already by that eternal inertia which comes to live with each of us one day and stays with us to the end.

Related Characters: Benjamin Button, Hildegarde Moncrief, Roger Button, General Moncrief
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 173
Explanation and Analysis: