Book Review of Babbit
When Sinclair Lewis received the Noble Prize for Literature, he commented that, “There are dozens of young poets and fictioneers … most of them a little insane in the tradition of James Joyce, who, however insane they may be, have refused to be genteel and traditional and dull.” Contempt for the mundane and conforming is a major theme in Sinclair Lewis’ satire, Babbitt. Lewis derides the hypocrisy and self-righteousness of middle-class America. Babbitt setting is the contemporary Zenith, a city in the Midwest. Zenith is an average town. The novel covers a palindromic pattern in Babbitt’s life, starting and ending with Babbitt in the same mindset. Babbitt is a successful real estate broker.