Customer Reviews

Babbitt

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

"Babbitt," published in 1922, was the second straight publishing phenomenon for Sinclair Lewis, who had become a household name in 1920 with "Main Street." By 1930, Lewis had published three more notable novels ("Arrowsmith," "Elmer Gantry," and "Dodsworth"), declined the Pulitzer Prize in a fit of pique, and finally became the first American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. The 1920s were his prime years, and none of his novels was more renowned than "Babbitt," which merited special recognition from the Swedish Academy when Lewis won the Nobel Prize.

So what is one to make of this novel now? It can be dreadfully dull, and could (indeed should) have been cut in half. It wanders around in search of a plot, and though many of its insights can be funny, overall one has to marvel at how genteel the literature of 1920s was in order to make this book a national sensation.

Basically, it is the story of George F. Babbitt, a solidly Republican, supremely self-satisfied, deeply stupid real estate man, who has a sort of midlife crisis in the course of the novel before returning desperately to his earlier state of censorious complacency by the last chapters. Lewis designed him to be an exemplar of his class, and many thought he was. The term "Babbitt" became a popular way of referring to chubby, materialistic businessmen. And then, by the 1940s, the novel had largely faded into oblivion, except in college classes or high school reading lists.

Why? Quite simply, because it's not a particularly good novel. It is a reasonably well-written slice of satirical social commentary, and little more. Today, it is merely a cultural relic from the twenties, kind of like the abominably bad "Great Gatsby," which dilettantes rave over as if it were actually a good novel. It isn't, and neither is "Babbitt." But for those interested in how America saw itself just before the Great Depression, books like these might be informative.

Babbitt, the main character of the book, is nothing less than the quintessential American, albeit satirically stereotyped. Exuberant, practical, naive, progressive, blindly optimistic, cheerful (on the surface), and out to get the bucks. Of course, not all Americans are exactly like Babbitt, but if America was said to have a national character, or some sort of behavioral and psychological mean, Babbitt would be it (see, for example, "The Ugly American"). He is the common man. The self-made businessman. He's the kind of guy that wouldn't ask for directions from his wife. He's the lover of gadgetry and automobiles. The smoker of fine cigars. The conservative Republican. The loyal tax-payer. The supporter of the troops. The anti-communist. In short, he is the man in the middle who makes it all happen -- and as it is today, the man in the oval office who really makes it all happen. This book will split your sides it is so funny at times. At other times, it will make you feel like crying, as Babbitt's nagging sense of alienation and dishonesty reminds you of many people you see around you, perhaps even yourself. Sinclair had a commanding grasp of the American Spirit, and it scared the Bejezus out of him. Read this and you will be frightened too. If you live in America, you will find that there is something all too familiar between these covers, like waking up with a hang-over and staring into the mirror for too long. The image is distorted, aging, and less-than-ideal. As I read, I kept thinking to myself, This is like the tale of an American Ivan Illich, only he never quite wakes up to the innanity of it all. Sobering.

The old phrase of "Do not judge a book by its cover" is full applicable in this case. Here we have a guy who was trained to not think by itself while believing that he does. All the nasty effects of conformity and its permanent conflict with social ambition are perfectly displayed in a humorous tone with makes the satire of the author even more piercing.

While Babbitt struggles to find his place in the web of social fabric, he also is feeling lost about what is his role as a family man and what is the sense of coming back each evening to a boring and fat wife, who also happens to care for him. He is also boring, bald, ugly and fat himself but incapable to perceive these facts or at least acknowledge them. So, to a large degree he feels that life is unfair with him.

This explosive cocktail takes him in a quest to figure out what is he really capable of and to demand from existence what he believes it owes him.

While the reader accompanies Babbitt, he is easily submersed in his skin and laughs at him. Here is were the author does the magic trick and before you know it you are not laughing about the character misfortunes but to our own lack of understanding of everything. That is what this work a fantastic piece of literature.

As some other readers have noted, this is not Lewis's best work (I always liked "It Can't Happen Here", Lewis's story of how fascism could have come to America) - but I liked it. I am not sure Lewis has much of a grasp of the eternal characteristics of the human heart, but he does a good job of sketching a specific type of person in a specific place and time, kind of like Tom Wolfe today. Unlike some reviewers, I don't think Lewis is unnecessarily venomous towards Babbitt -- at the end (when Babbitt tells his son to do what he enjoys instead of what his father did) he reveals himself to be somewhat of a mensch. I also don't think Babbitt is as much of a role model as some other reviewers think; his business ethics are too borderline, his attitude towards First Amendment values too cavalier. Generally, I liked Lewis more as a teenager than I do now; I think high schools should use his books more.

If you ask me. And I mean it, I mean, I really mean it. I mean, the people in this book are, well, as peppy and interesting as any folks can ever be, know what I mean? I liked the dinner party parts and the ladies' looking alike and the gentlemen not looking alike until you got to know 'em and then you realized it was the reverse. The men all acted just about the same, know what I mean? Always repeating themselves and acting like they were the Big Cheese and such. Also, it was quite a bit of amusement hearing about Prohibition, what it was really like, if you get my meaning. How people in the Big Little Cities like Zenith defended it but in private couldn't wait to get their hands on a bottle of gin and go on about their Rights and Liberties, by golly, and how nobody had the right to tell them what to do in their own homes and in America and such. Hypocrisy. Boosterism. Crony-ism. Now, those were the days. (They're still the days.)

Much of my reading is non fiction, particularly American history. However, as a history enthusiast, I sometimes like to read American fiction since such literature gives a first hand flavor of cultural history. I read this book many years ago and in rereading this past week, I realize how timeless it is. Since I first read it, I have become a middle aged adult active in local civic organizations. Additionally, I am basically conservative both politically and socially. Thus, this book gives me pause as I wonder, "have I become Babbitt?" I hope not since Babbittism (is that a word?) is a state of mind, not a superficial demographic profile. If you are a Babbitt, you are a self satisfied blowhard, yet are not free of underlying self doubts and insecurities. Such fatuous swellheads come in all political and social stripes.

This novel satirizes the conservative, semi ignorant, civic minded business person but, there is a much more subtle satire running through the book. At one point, Babbitt fancies himself as "broad minded and liberal." For a time, he starts to run around with a different sort of crowd. Although this particular satire doesn't hit you up side the head, if you read carefully, the trendy liberals of that time (1920s) are also satirized.

Ultimately, this book is about the power of conformity. When this book was written, the author saw it as a nearly irresistable force. His examination of this issue may well be relevant today.

Odd, isn't it, that George F. Babbitt should be one of the most reviled characters in American literature? What, after all, is his great crime ? It's not that he's a conformist; we're all conformists of one kind or another; such is the nature of social creatures. No, the problem with George Babbitt, that which has so incensed intellectuals for some eighty-odd years is the set of ideas that he conforms to : Middle American ideals--hard work, thrift, salesmanship, conservatism, Christianity, family values, monogamy, the whole panoply of traditional morays of which the Left is so contemptuous.

George's story is fairly simple. A successful Realtor in the booming midwestern city of Zenith, married with three children, George is a pillar of the community and a support to his family, but he's not happy. Everyone is always coming to him with their complaints about life, but he's never supposed to question his lot. Then his friend, Paul Riesling, begins to express his own dissatisfaction and together the two begin to sow some wild oats. George goes along on a trip to Maine without their wives, but eventually Paul sprints ahead by first having an affair and then shooting his wife.

George, who had tried reigning Paul in, now proceeds to have his own affair with the widow Tanis Judique. He also starts to hang out with some of Tanis's scruffy friends and to vocally question the received wisdom of Zenith's business community. But George's wife, Myra, finds out about the affair and George's business partners bail out on a few deals. Meanwhile, George discovers that Tanis, though her life seemed freer at first, is just as bound by societal conventions as he.

With his own business now suffering and the bloom off of his new romance, George is already beginning to waiver, and when Myra comes down with a potentially deadly case of appendicitis, he realizes that he wants his old life back. Myra and his friends welcome him back to the fold.

In a final scene, George's son elopes, and he surprises everyone by accepting the marriage. He even tells the boy that he should seize his opportunities now, because he (George) never truly did anything he wanted to his whole life.

Now I understand that on the surface this does seem like an indictment of middle America, but it also reads like a cautionary tale, defending Zenith and its citizens from the notion that they'd be happier if they rebelled. In fact, the most convincing and moving moments in the whole book come when George returns to Myra.

Likewise, perhaps the truest and certainly the funniest social criticism in the book is aimed not at the good people of Zenith, but at those who would change them. When The Reverend Mike Monday, who might easily be nothing but a caricature of a huckster preacher, comes to town.

Sure, Lewis may have thought this was so over-the-top as to preclude the reader paying any heed to the message, or he may have meant it as nothing more than self-deprecating humor, but isn't it at least possible that he suspected we'd prefer this kind of muscular Christianity to the offerings of the lemon-sucking professors, maybe even that he himself preferred it ? If Monday is supposed to be one of the bad guys, ask yourself this, outside of Richard III, when's the last time you recall the bad guy getting such funny lines at the expense of the good guys ?

At any rate, however Lewis intended us to take the story of George Babbitt and his abortive rebellion, the past eighty years have certainly vindicated the morality, even the hypocrisy, of Zenith and its most famous resident. George Babbitt is really one of the heroes of American Literature, all the more so because he chafes at the tugging of the reins but keeps pulling the wagon. Of such sacrifices are great nations and great cultures made.

GRADE : A

Sinclair Lewis wrote a series of satires that exposed the hypocrisy of early 20th century America. “Babbitt” is a snapshot of the life of George F. Babbitt, a somewhat prosperous middle class businessman who lives in Zenith, Ohio. Zenith has a population of 300,000+, and has an active business community. This community has its own rituals and ironclad rules. These rules consist of being one of the gang, being a member of all the right clubs and organizations, and never deviating from the ideals of business and money. These rules cause enormous difficulties for Babbitt when he goes through a midlife crisis at the end of the book and begins spouting liberal ideas and associating with the “wrong” crowd.

This is my first encounter with Sinclair Lewis. I really don’t know why I chose to read “Babbitt” first, as I also have copies of “Main Street” and “Arrowsmith”. I think it was the unusual cover of the Penguin edition, which is a picture of a painting called “Booster” by Grant Wood. To me, that picture IS Babbitt, and I’ll always be able to see Babbitt in my head whenever I’m reminded of this book.There really isn’t a lot of symbolism here (and the symbolism that is here is pretty easy to decipher) and the prose is much closer to our present day writing and speech. This is brilliant satire, and you’ll laugh out loud at many of the situations Babbitt gets himself into. An especially hilarious incident occurs when one of the local millionaire businessmen finally accepts an invitation to dine with Babbitt. The evening goes badly because Babbitt is in a lower social class. Lewis then shows Babbitt going to a dinner at an old friends house who is in a lower class then him. It’s hilarious to see the similarities between the two events, and it brings home how class is strictly enforced in Zenith, and by extension, America.

Babbitt is a person that I found myself both hating and liking, often within the space of one page. He’s ignorant, in that he is a major conformist who often repeats slogans and phrases merely because others in his circle say the same things. He’s a namedropper who refers to people he doesn’t even know as though they were his best friends. He’s also high volume. Babbitt is one of those people we all know who is always boisterous and noisy so they can hide their own insecurities or ignorance. Just when you think you can’t stand Babbitt for another second, Lewis tosses in a situation that makes you feel for the man. Babbitt is the boss at a real estate company, and he worries about his employees liking him. When a confrontation arises with one of his salesmen, Babbitt frets and doesn’t want to fire the guy, although the rules of business eventually force him to do exactly that. He wants all of his employees to like him. He also feels bad about cheating on his wife while she is away and worries about what his children will think of him when he comes in drunk after a night of carousing. Ultimately, although Babbitt can be a major heel, the reader is almost forced to sympathize with him. This is true especially at the end of the book, when Babbitt renounces his liberal ways and rejoins his old colleagues. His return to the pack is not quite complete, however. Babbitt is changed by his transgression, and has learned a few lessons that he imparts to his son on the last page of the book, thus ending the tale on an upbeat note.

I would like to have seen a better section of explanatory notes in this Penguin edition. While some of the more obscure references are defined, many are not. Also, some of the language in the book is very 1920’s slang, and for a 21st century ear, it can be difficult to pick up on some of them. This book is both funny and sad, but well worth reading. Sinclair Lewis eventually won Pulitzer and Nobel prizes for his literary endeavors. It’s not hard to see why. Recommended.

Sinclair Lewis and Thomas Hart Benton, the artist, were about the same age, they both focussed on the American Heartland, and as I read Lewis, I see that they both had something else in common. They both had a tendency to draw cartoonish characters. George F. Babbitt is the main character of a satire by the same name; you might even laugh aloud in some places. Lewis is skillful, but at times, heavy-handed. He has portrayed an average Joe of 1920, the pep- and vim-obsessed go-getting businessman who was the bedrock of our industrial age, hypocritical, materialist, crooked, conformist, even proto-fascist. Babbitt is a real estate agent, a family man surrounded by the wealth of material goods provided by thriving industrial capitalism. He belongs enthusiastically and unquestioningly to any organization dedicated to preserving his and his family's ready access to those goods---professional group (realtors association), Boosters, church, and set social circle. He spouts meaningless platitudes on every subject, knows nothing except the price of real estate and methods of collusion, and ignores his feelings, his family, and the rest of the world, all the while believing that his city, state, and country are the best in the world. The first 90-odd pages of BABBITT are pure genius; one of the best character portraits you are likely to find in American literature---but it is a caricature after all. Lewis' choice of names underlines his cartoonish glee in writing this brilliant novel---Vergil Gunch, Professor Pumphrey, Chet Laylock, Matt Penniman, Muriel Frink, Opal Mudge, Carrie Nork, and Miss McGoun---names that could have been annexed years later by MAD magazine ! "Babbitt" has long been a word in American English, signifying a conforming materialist citizen without a mind of his own. Perhaps this is not entirely fair.

George goes through a mid-life crisis, rebels against his static, materialistic life with its know-nothing attitudes, its moral certitudes, and its boring routines. His closest friend (aren't there certain unspoken overtones of homosexual love ?) commits a dastardly deed, breaking George's heart. "On the rebound", he meets the fantastically-named Tanis Judique, femme fatale à la Midwest. Certain consequences arise, Lewis brings in his ever-present fear of American fascist tendencies, and there's a rather hopeful ending, also in the American tradition. If you are looking for a place to begin reading Sinclair Lewis, BABBITT is an excellent choice. If you already know other Lewis novels, don't miss this one. I would say that with "Main Street", "Elmer Gantry" and "Dodsworth", BABBITT is at the solid gold core of Sinclair Lewis' work. He certainly did deserve that Nobel Prize.

I am not saying that Babbitt is unreadable, or even a discredit to Lewis in relation to his other work. This was my first Lewis novel: A cynosure, a statement by the man who, with touches of Flaubert and Anderson, crafted painstaking and rewarding satires rife with conformists and cavaliers, and the boredom and outrage experienced by outcasts in small towns and mid-sized cities alike. I read Babbitt a few years ago, and found it a delight to the last.

But it isn't Main Street, the book that helped to gel my admiration of Lewis' craftsmanship. This is why I suggested that first time readers sound Lewis' art by trying out the earlier book before Babbitt. It seems that those aspects that set Main Street like a needle in the eye of small town sameness and malaise: Incisive satire, wit and a mirthfulness that often counteract the more melancholy stretches; and a beautiful troupe of dissatisfied outcasts (Guy Pollock, the bachelor attorney; Miles Bjornstam, itinerant Swedish horse trader turned semi-settled by marriage; Erik Valborg, a tailor with a poetic bent who mispronounces words and runs off to Chicago to star in cheap pictures), are all overstated in Babbitt. There are some surprises: Paul shooting Zeena, George's affair with Tanis Judique, and Ted's elopement with Eunice Littlefield. But, overemphasis on George's hypocritical stance on liquor and his overconsumption of the same, as well as lengthy passages explaining the efforts George undertakes to quit smoking before unceremoniously lighting up again, put lead in the shoes of the story. However, this is still a great book, with some startling prose to its credit. Just give Main Street a glance before you give this a shot.