Sinclair Lewis

Babbitt Sinclair Lewis

Zenith, Ohio, a good-sized city, is the setting for Sinclair Lewis's parody of middle-class American life represented by average citizen George F. Babbitt, a prosperous real estate agent. He considers himself a regular fellow who is a Rotarian, an Elk, a Republican, and makes use of the current slogans, and parrots the editorials of the local newspaper. A day in Babbitt's life is a view of the most disturbing examples of American policies of this period in history. There seems to be no escape from the ignorance and boorishness of his social neighborhood. A spiritual vacuum, a purposeless rushing about, constant noise and motor-obsession occupy the hypocritical businessmen who are surrounded by material wealth and unchallenged dissatisfaction. His affluence supports his lack of imagination, even though he feels the need to calm his deeper restlessness. Babbitt's unhappiness feeds off his fear of being shut out of the thoughts of his immediate superficial community. At the end of the book, Babbitt admits to his son, "I've never done a single thing I've wanted to in my whole life."