Babbitt By Sinclair Lewis (1885-1951) Essays - Babbitt, Winnemac

Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis (1885-1951) Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis (1885-1951) Type of Work: Social commentary Setting Zenith, a mythical Midwestern American city; 1920s Principal Characters George F. Babbitt, a middle-aged real estate agent Myra, his wife Ted, their teenage son Paul Reisling, George's buddy from college Zilla, Paul's nagging wife Tanis Judique, George's mistress Seneca Doane, a radical lawyer and George's former college friend Story Overveiw As another day began in Zenith, sleeping George Babbitt fought to ignore the morning sounds - the milk truck, the furnace-man, a dog barking - so that he could cling to the dream he was having. He had the same dream often. It involved a "fairy child" who discerned"gallant youth" where "others saw but George Babbitt." But now the day beckoned. George pulled himself from bed, bathed, shaved, dressed, and then trudged downstairs to eat. As usual, Babbitt was a grumpy breakfast partner; a foul mood was expected of a respectable businessman. He grumbled at his nearly adult children, Verona and Ted, and argued with Myra, his wife. No one in the house appreciated all he did for them. Babbitt gulped down his food, "laid unmoving lips against [Myra's] unblushing cheek," and left for work. Driving toward his office in down town Zenith, he admired the "bigness" of the city. In fact, "Babbitt respected bigness in anything: in mountains, jewels, muscles, wealth, or words... " At the Reeves Building where the Babbitt-Thompson Realty Company had its offices, he wrote an advertisement designed to entice buyers to purchase the company's cemetery plots, then phoned his old school friend Paul Reisling and made arrangements for lunch. Babbitt always ate in the Zenith Athletic Club, and today was no exception. He normally sat with "the Roughnecks," an intimate group of big businessmen, but today he and Paul sat by themselves. Paul was more than a little depressed with his shrewish wife Zilla, who constantly badgered him, embarrassed him in public, and treated him like a little boy. While the two friends complained about their colorless lives, they struck on the idea of getting away to Maine by themselves that next summer to "just loaf ... and smoke and cuss and be natural." Babbitt assured Paul that he would arrange everything with their wives. The day ended with Babbitt firing a salesman for being too honest. At home, as usual, Babbitt ate dinner, the kids left the house, and he plunked himself on the sofa for some lazy reading. But a seed of dissatisfaction swelled up in him; he vowed that the following year would bring changes in his life. The next year began well for Babbitt. Money poured in as he secretly bought real estate options in a Zenith suburb, Linton, in anticipation of "the public announcement that the Linton Avenue Car Line would be extended." Babbitt told Myra about his plan to run up to Maine with Paul early that spring and bullied Zilla into letting Paul go, too. Paul and Babbitt arrived in Maine's north woods, and both found the climate, surroundings, fishing, hiking and camaraderie, soothing. Paul started looking at his distant wife with a more forgiving eye. He began to feel that his marriage would somehow be different - better; maybe he could "go back and start over again." Babbitt, on the other band, "sank into irritability," as though he had "uncovered layer upon layer of hidden weariness." But he still promised himself that his life would be, from then on, less hurried and hectic. After his return from Maine, Babbitt was given the opportunity to address the State Association of Real Estate Boards at their annual convention. He tried for days to come up with a speech to express his new-found relaxation; to somehow convince businessmen that they needed to see life from a deeper perspective. But just before the convention he trashed his notes, and, instead, parrotted the ideas he knew his peers wanted to hear. Enthusiastically, he proclaimed the real estate profession, Zenith, and every good thing about the city, as "God's gift to earth." Babbitt's speech was a success. One of Zenith's newspapers even printed his picture. After that, things really took off. That November, Harding won the Presidential election, but in Zenith the mayoral race was the fight that really counted. Seneca Doane, a radical lawyer and Babbitt's former college acquaintance - was running on a liberal labor ticket, while his opponent, Lucas Prout, had the support of "the banks, the Chamber of Commerce, all the decent newspapers, and George F. Babbitt." "Prout represented honest industry, Seneca Doane represented whining laziness," Babbitt told campaign audiences. In the end, Prout - and by extension, Babbitt - won. Soon thereafter, Babbitt was picked to serve on a church committee