The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

by

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Hildegarde Moncrief Character Analysis

Hildegarde Moncrief falls in love with and marries Benjamin Button. The daughter of General Moncrief, one of the most important figures in Baltimore’s high society, Hildegarde is an attractive woman who appreciates the “mellowness” of middle-aged men. For this reason, Benjamin decides not to tell her that he only looks like he’s 50, though in reality he’s actually 20. They get married soon after they meet and have a son named Roscoe, and the couple’s apparent age difference prompts gossip. In fact, there are so many scandalous tales about Benjamin that Hildegarde decides to ignore not just the lies about his condition, but also the true version of his story—which she inevitably finds out about as Benjamin gets younger as she gets older. Because she was originally attracted to Benjamin’s maturity, she resents him for getting younger. Her unwillingness to accept Benjamin as he ages backwards demonstrates just how tightly people hold to certain ideas about age and identity. Hildegarde married him because she coveted his identity as an older, refined gentleman. Once he becomes a young man, though, she no longer loves him, illustrating that people often romanticize whatever they think a person represents (maturity, in this case), leaving very little room for their lover to change or evolve. This—along with Benjamin’s lack of interest in Hildegarde as time goes on—leads to the dissolution of their marriage. Hildegarde eventually moves to Italy on her own when Benjamin attends Harvard University.

Hildegarde Moncrief Quotes in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The The Curious Case of Benjamin Button quotes below are all either spoken by Hildegarde Moncrief or refer to Hildegarde 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 5 Quotes

“I’ve always said,” went on Hildegarde, “that I’d rather marry a man of fifty and be taken care of than marry a man of thirty and take care of him.”

Related Characters: Hildegarde Moncrief (speaker), Benjamin Button
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 171
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 6 Quotes

The almost forgotten story of Benjamin’s birth was remembered and sent out upon the winds of scandal in picaresque and incredible forms. It was said that Benjamin was really the father of Roger Button, that he was his brother who had been in prison for forty years, that he was John Wilkes Booth in disguise—and, finally, that he had two small conical horns sprouting from his head.

The Sunday supplements of the New York papers played up the case with fascinating sketches which showed the head of Benjamin Button attached to a fish, to a snake, and, finally, to a body of solid brass. He became known, journalistically, as the Mystery Man of Maryland. But the true story, as is usually the case, had a very small circulation.

Related Characters: Benjamin Button, Hildegarde Moncrief, Roger Button
Page Number: 172
Explanation and Analysis:

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:
Chapter 8 Quotes

“Well,” he remarked lightly, “everybody says I look younger than ever.”

Hildegarde regarded him with scorn. She sniffed. “Do you think it’s anything to boast about?”

“I’m not boasting,” he asserted uncomfortably.

She sniffed again. “The idea,” she said, and after a moment: “I should think you’d have enough pride to stop it.”

“How can I?” he demanded.

“I’m not going to argue with you,” she retorted. “But there’s a right way of doing things and a wrong way. If you’ve made up your mind to be different from everybody else, I don’t suppose I can stop you, but I really don’t think it’s very considerate.”

Related Characters: Benjamin Button (speaker), Hildegarde Moncrief (speaker)
Page Number: 174
Explanation and Analysis:

“Look!” people would remark. “What a pity! A young fellow that age tied to a woman of forty-five. He must be twenty years younger than his wife.” They had forgotten—as people inevitably forget—that back in 1880 their mammas and papas had also remarked about this same ill-matched pair.

Related Characters: Benjamin Button, Hildegarde Moncrief
Page Number: 175
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 9 Quotes

But though he was welcomed in a general way, there was obviously no heartiness in Roscoe’s feeling toward him—there was even perceptible a tendency on his son’s part to think that Benjamin, as he moped about the house in adolescent mooniness, was somewhat in the way. Roscoe was married now and prominent in Baltimore life, and he wanted no scandal to creep out in connection with his family.

Related Characters: Benjamin Button, Hildegarde Moncrief, Roger Button, Roscoe Button
Page Number: 176
Explanation and Analysis:
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Hildegarde Moncrief Quotes in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The The Curious Case of Benjamin Button quotes below are all either spoken by Hildegarde Moncrief or refer to Hildegarde 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 5 Quotes

“I’ve always said,” went on Hildegarde, “that I’d rather marry a man of fifty and be taken care of than marry a man of thirty and take care of him.”

Related Characters: Hildegarde Moncrief (speaker), Benjamin Button
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 171
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 6 Quotes

The almost forgotten story of Benjamin’s birth was remembered and sent out upon the winds of scandal in picaresque and incredible forms. It was said that Benjamin was really the father of Roger Button, that he was his brother who had been in prison for forty years, that he was John Wilkes Booth in disguise—and, finally, that he had two small conical horns sprouting from his head.

The Sunday supplements of the New York papers played up the case with fascinating sketches which showed the head of Benjamin Button attached to a fish, to a snake, and, finally, to a body of solid brass. He became known, journalistically, as the Mystery Man of Maryland. But the true story, as is usually the case, had a very small circulation.

Related Characters: Benjamin Button, Hildegarde Moncrief, Roger Button
Page Number: 172
Explanation and Analysis:

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:
Chapter 8 Quotes

“Well,” he remarked lightly, “everybody says I look younger than ever.”

Hildegarde regarded him with scorn. She sniffed. “Do you think it’s anything to boast about?”

“I’m not boasting,” he asserted uncomfortably.

She sniffed again. “The idea,” she said, and after a moment: “I should think you’d have enough pride to stop it.”

“How can I?” he demanded.

“I’m not going to argue with you,” she retorted. “But there’s a right way of doing things and a wrong way. If you’ve made up your mind to be different from everybody else, I don’t suppose I can stop you, but I really don’t think it’s very considerate.”

Related Characters: Benjamin Button (speaker), Hildegarde Moncrief (speaker)
Page Number: 174
Explanation and Analysis:

“Look!” people would remark. “What a pity! A young fellow that age tied to a woman of forty-five. He must be twenty years younger than his wife.” They had forgotten—as people inevitably forget—that back in 1880 their mammas and papas had also remarked about this same ill-matched pair.

Related Characters: Benjamin Button, Hildegarde Moncrief
Page Number: 175
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 9 Quotes

But though he was welcomed in a general way, there was obviously no heartiness in Roscoe’s feeling toward him—there was even perceptible a tendency on his son’s part to think that Benjamin, as he moped about the house in adolescent mooniness, was somewhat in the way. Roscoe was married now and prominent in Baltimore life, and he wanted no scandal to creep out in connection with his family.

Related Characters: Benjamin Button, Hildegarde Moncrief, Roger Button, Roscoe Button
Page Number: 176
Explanation and Analysis: