The title is based on an allusion to the ancient city of
Babylon, which was a symbol of orgiastic decadence. Note how this fits into the plot of the short
story - Charlie is returning to France for the first time since the Wall Street Crash. Before
this point, Americans in Paris lived frenzied, decadent lives, and this story is full of memories
of this time:
He
remembered thousand-franc notes given to an orchestra for playing a single number, hundred-franc
notes tossed to a doorman for calling a
cab.
However, as he comments, there
had been a price for this wastefulness - the loss of his daughter, which is why he has returned
to the site of so much folly of waste, to reclaim his daughter.
Thus
the title is based on an allusion that links Paris in its hey-day before the Wall Street Crash of
1929 with the ancient hedonistic city of Babylon and refers to the various excesses that
Americans were able to indulge in at that time.
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