The Curious Case of Benjamin Button characters

Appears from the start

The son of Roger Button, born in Baltimore in 1860 with the body, speech, and preferences of an elderly man. While everyone around him insists on treating him according to the number of years since his birth, his physical life runs in the opposite direction: he becomes younger as time passes.

Appears from the start

Benjamin's father, a prosperous Baltimore hardware businessman intensely concerned with convention and the Button family's reputation. Horrified by his son's elderly appearance at birth, Roger buys him childish clothes, gives him a conventional infant's name, and demands that he behave at the age society assigns him.

First appears in chapter 6

A prominent retired officer and Hildegarde's father. He meets Benjamin as a man who appears to be of his own generation and welcomes him as a suitor, unaware of the unusual facts of Benjamin's age.

First appears in chapter 6

General Moncrief's daughter, a young Baltimore society woman. She is attracted to Benjamin because his mature appearance fits her romantic preference for older men and dismisses younger suitors as inexperienced.

First appears in chapter 9

Benjamin and Hildegarde's son. By the time Roscoe has inherited the family business, his father looks younger than he does. Roscoe regards the situation as a threat to respectability and insists that Benjamin present himself as his brother rather than reveal their relationship.

First appears in chapter 11

The nurse who cares for Benjamin after his reverse aging has carried him back into early childhood. Her daily routines and stories fill his shrinking world as his memories and understanding fade.