Babbitt

I enjoyed Babbitt much more than I thought I would. It's not easy at the start, as the reader gets thrown into a rah rah early 20th century American business environment in the fictional city of Zenith. There isn't a whole lot of plot; it's more a novel of characters, including, of course, George Babbitt. He initially appears to be a pumped-up, full of himself aspirant to the 1%. For a large portion of the book he says all the right things at various local community clubs and political events about squashing unions and rewarding the go-getters needed to get the country back on its feet after the first world war. He gets a reputation as an orator, and his real estate business prospers. But even as he becomes a leader in Zenith's show more "boosterism", underneath it all he yearns to slip away with the fairy child of his dreams:

"He was somewhere among unknown people who laughed at him. He slipped away, ran down the paths of a midnight garden, and at the gate the fairy child was waiting. Her dear and tranquil hand caressed his cheek. He was gallant and wise and well-beloved; warm ivory were her arms; and beyond the perilous moors the brave sea glittered."

After a friend's life takes a disastrous turn, Babbitt rebels and for a time searches for the fairy child among women of his acquaintance. He is reminded of his more liberal views when young, and begins to see his own rebellious son differently.

The book was a huge success in its time, and in 1930 Lewis won the Nobel Prize, the first American to do so. He writes really well, and more than once I thought this was what Updike was trying to do, with less success. Babbitt is a satire of crass American commercialism and superficial optimism, but the book also has a heart. "Babbitt" became a word in our lexicon defined as ""a person and especially a business or professional man who conforms unthinkingly to prevailing middle-class standards". To me, that definition is unfair, as Georgie Babbitt wasn't an unthinking conformist. He yearned for escape with the fairy child, but determinedly, with "pep", he tried to make the best of the hand he saw himself dealt. A four star read. show less

The first hundred pages of Babbitt describe, almost in mock-heroic fashion, a day in the life of the Average Business Man. The Substantial Citizen is taken at his own valuation; each event of his day is of world-shaking importance, and must be captured in photographic detail: Business Man shaving, Business Man changing suits, Business Man starting car, Business Man completing deal, and so on. The effect would be highly ironic if the author maintained his detachment. But instead of allowing us to infer the limitations of his hero, Lewis himself points them out: he stresses that in a city which seems built for giants George F. Babbitt is really a pygmy.

Babbitt is portrayed as the archetype of the Booster, loudmouthed, unthinking, and show more insensitive. His speech, compounded of the clichés and prejudices of his group, is not the expression of a sentient, rational human being. His symbols of truth and beauty are the mechanical devices which surround him, even though he understands nothing of their workings. Success for him means conformity to the pattern of living delineated by the one true American art, advertising. He often shows Babbitt as a caricature of a real person, ironically prevented from becoming fully human by the restrictions which all the people of his class impose upon their society. However, Babbitt does possess an inner life, a yearning for the exotic and a native decency which separate him from his back-slapping associates-the Vergil Gunches and Chum Frinks--and link him with a misfit, Paul Riesling.
When the novel opens, Babbitt has begun to regularly indulge in fantasies about a fairy girl who makes him feel like a gallant youth. Babbitt's family consists of his three children, Verona, Ted, and Tinka, and his dowdy, devoted wife, Myra. Babbitt's closest friend Paul Riesling is even more dissatisfied with his life. He is also more vocal about it. Although he dreamed of becoming a professional violinist in his youth, Riesling became mired in the life of the average middle-class businessman of his generation. His wife, Zilla, is equally unsatisfied with the monotonous, conventional routine of Zenith, but she vents her frustrations by constantly nagging Paul.Both men experience a growing impulse to rebel against social conventions. When Babbitt discovers that Riesling is having an affair, he preaches the value of maintaining one's good social standing in the community. Riesling retorts that his life is miserable, so he doesn't feel guilty for seeking a little comfort in the arms of another woman. Soon thereafter, Riesling and Zilla have another argument; Riesling snaps, shoots his wife, and subsequently receives a sentence of three years in the state penitentiary.
Babbitt is devastated by the loss of Riesling's steadying presence in his life. His own desire for rebellion comes to the surface when he realizes that he wants his fairy girl in the flesh. When the attractive widow, Tanis Judique, enters his life, Babbitt thinks he has found his fairy girl and begins an affair. At the same time, Babbitt becomes more critical of the conservative opinions of his friends. When the threat of a general strike hangs over Zenith, Babbitt ventures to support some of the claims of the strikers, shocking and alienating his social set. While Myra is away nursing her sick sister, Babbitt stays out late, drinking and partying with Tanis' bohemian friends.
Upon her return to Zenith, Myra becomes suspicious of Babbitt's activities. When he finally admits to her that he is having an affair, he convinces her that it is her fault. However, Babbitt becomes disillusioned with Tanis when he realizes that in many ways, her life is just as conventional as his. Meanwhile, Babbitt's friends try to bully him into returning to his old ways. When Babbitt refuses to conform, they shun him, and his business begins to suffer. When Myra falls seriously ill with appendicitis, Babbitt realizes that it is too late to become a rebel. He once again becomes a devoted husband and deeply regrets the pain he has caused his wife. Babbitt's friends offer their support during the crisis. Babbitt gratefully accepts the chance to resume his old life and quickly regains his respectable social status.
This novel exposes the hollowness of the attempt to escape feelings of emptiness by turning to excitement and apparent change. It pillories the illusions of materialism and the comfortable complacency that is the result. This is a story of a troubled family, troubled by the illusions that may be sustained and created by consumer capitalism and the meaninglessness that is at the heart of an enterprise driven by purely materialist values. show less

In 1920s America, George Babbitt has it all. He lives in an up-and-coming, prosperous town. He has a family and two children. He has a successful job. He’s not a superman. No, he’s neither a CEO of a large corporation, nor a super-rich business tycoon, nor a famous celebrity. Nonetheless, he’s living a good life. But something suddenly happens to one of his close friends, and he calls his entire life into question.

Today, we would call this event a “mid-life crisis.” Babbitt indulges in behaviors that he’s always wanted to explore. He parties. He drinks. He fools around. He stops associating with upright people. His family and his business associates are aghast. Will he recover? If so, how? And is human redemption even show more possible?

Written in the so-called “Roaring ’20s,” this book addressed an American society drunk with economic prosperity. The frank need to survive in the Great Depression had not hit yet. Interestingly, this book also was a success in Great Britain, with its similarly advanced industrial economy. As with works like The Great Gatsby, this book addressed social problems of how to live in a time of materialism.

Although some terms of modern life have changed in the postindustrial and postfeminist age, the philosophical problems of life’s meaning have not. Since Sinclair Lewis penned this book, women’s roles in the world have changed dramatically as have the centrality of American institutions. But we still need to find our place in the world. We still question whether material comfort is all there is to life. We still need to placate our regrets and guilt. Today, we might read Babbitt and relegate it to a prior age of indulgence and fixed social structures. However, when we are honest with ourselves, we all reflect George Babbitt more than we realize. That’s what makes this book a timeless classic. show less

This book is everything I dislike about literary fiction, and yet it's so darn well written I'm giving it four stars, even though I never would have finished the thing if it wasn't for research purposes. Lewis can WRITE. There's a reason he's remembered as one of the great writers of the 20th century.

Here's the thing about Babbit. He's a horrible person, but he's like people all of us know. The book really centers around a catastrophic mid-life crisis. Babbit is sanctimonious, loud-mouthed, a sexual harrasser, desperate to climb the social ladder. He's largely spineless--he follows whatever crowd holds sway over him. Most of all, we are never intended to like him, but we relate to him in small ways all the same. It was only by the power show more of Lewis's writing that I stuck with the book, because this really hit on so many tropes that I loathe, especially when it comes to spousal abuse (though Babbit's sin in this regard is mostly in supporting his best friend's abuse/near-murder of his wife) and Babbit's extramarital affair. I mean, I HATED this guy, but I kept reading, and on the last page I genuinely pitied him. This book is an exercise is incredible character development.

One of the reasons I braved this book was due to the social impact it had in the 1920s. In several books from that period, I have come across mentions of people being considered "like Babbit." The book was a bestseller, and since we all know people like Babbit, it's no wonder the name entered popular culture. show less

I knew that Babbitt was a satire but I didn't expect it to be so sharp or so applicable to today's world. What saves it from being just ugly and biting is that Babbitt is oddly sympathetic. He's also infuriating and obnoxious at times, but Lewis seems to be telling us he's a product of his time and we can't expect much. It's a harsh indictment of American society, especially the upwardly mobile middle class and the already entrenched upper class, and it hits uncomfortably close to home in certain ways. While dated to some extent, Babbitt still manages to have something important to say, even 90+ years later.

His last despairing fling before the paralyzed contentment of middle-age'
By sally tarbox on 27 Mar. 2014
Format: Paperback
George F Babbit is a respectable 'pillar of the community' in the fictional city of Zenith. Married with kids, an increasingly successful realtor in a world of 'good little people, comfortable, industrious, credulous', a good social life...and yet beset by the realisation that:
'perhaps all life as he knew it and vigorously practised it was futile; that heaven as portrayed by the Rev Drew was neither probable nor very interesting; that he hadn't much pleasure out of making money; that it was of doubtful worth to rear children merely that they might rear children who would rear children. What was it all about? What did show more he want?' Whether Babbit finally breaks with his conservative and conventional life forms the story.

I really enjoyed Lewis' humorous touches, especially the characterization of his mundane domestic life:
' "An apple a day keeps the doctor away", he enlightened Mrs Babbit, for quite the first time in fourteen hours.'
Also his comic takes on advertising and religion (which he focussed on more fully in later work 'Elmer Gantry'.)
The realisation that this is all there is, is as relevant today as back in the 1920s, and this was an excellent read. show less

"He was thinking. It was coming to him that perhaps all life as he knew it and vigorously practiced [sic] it was futile; that heaven as portrayed by the Reverend Dr. John Jennison Drew was neither probable nor very interesting; that he hadn't much pleasure out of making money; that it was of doubtful worth to rear children merely that they might rear children who would rear children. What was it all about? What did he want?"

This portrait of a stodgy conformist in the early part of the 20th century holds up well in today's world. More character study than plot-driven adventure, the novel follows George F. Babbitt through what might be considered a mid-life crisis. Motivated almost exclusively by his desire to be liked, respected, and show more successful, Babbitt is steeped in the class judgments of upper class America. He is absolutely blind to the imbedded paradoxes: his disdain for those with less money or prestige and his resentment and longing for the attention of those with more are beautifully rendered by Lewis. The reader can see the tongue planted firmly within the author's cheek.

I would no more desire to spend an evening with George F. Babbitt than I would desire to have a root canal, but reading the novel about his foray into self-determination was oddly enjoyable. show less