The title character from the novel Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis is examined in three pages with the argument presented that he is a middle class caricature of the capitalist and morally devoid society of the 1920s. One source is listed in the bibliography.
Name of Research Paper File: TS14_TEbabbit.rtf
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be seen as a criticism of the society of the time. George F Babbitt may be seen not only as a stand alone character, but also as a caricature of
the time. The student is asked how they would describe this man, the answer they may choose to give may be that he is a man who is a caricature
of his era, self obsessed and superficial, made up of all the worst elements of that time, used to show how society was failing. The student may also choose to
argue that he is a man who does not know himself as he complies with societal norms with no great depth of personality or individually, that is until tragedy strikes
and he is forced to review his life, which is when a change does occur. To understand why and how the
above character summarisations can be made the student needs to consider the way Lewis presents this shallow character in terms of the contemporary period in which it was written and
set. As a middle aged estate agent, Babbitt is placed in a job where capitalism and the desire
for material goods is perceived as a priority in life. In this era, the success of an individual was valued by the possessions they have in a house and not
by the value of their soul. In this book there are the images of prosperity that were valid at the time and
remain, under current societal constructs, perceived as outwardly symbolic of success. These include money and shiny cars in terms of physical asserts and the personal characteristic of self obsession being