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Benjamin Button’s character traits make him both just the type of person who does not deserve the things that happen to him, and just the type of person fit to weather them. He is amiable and pleasant, and in contrast to other characters in the story, he takes most everything in stride. He gets frustrated and upset at times, but his good nature and take-it-as-it-comes attitude serve him well. Benjamin cannot help his situation, and at each stage of his backward life, he lives as he feels he must. Despite what his father wants from a supposed “baby,” Benjamin has the body and mind of a seventy-year-old, and acts accordingly. Despite what his son wants from a “father,” Benjamin behaves according to the nature of a person in a teenage body. In this way, Benjamin is a foil and a mirror for other characters and sometimes reveals their selfishness and rigidity. His situation exposes others for their inability to take him at his word, think creatively and selflessly, and adapt. As for Benjamin, with each new challenge, he finds the things that make him happy and pursues them. As his childhood approaches, Benjamin learns to let go more and more, and just go with the flow, until the final moment when he lets go entirely.

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