Key themes
- The businessman as the quintessential American type — and his hidden dissatisfactions
- Conformity and its costs — the man who wants to rebel but cannot
- Zenith as satire of American boosterism
About this book
"Zenith is the finest example of American life and prosperity to be found anywhere." Zenith is the Midwestern city where George F. Babbitt lives and works. A successful real estate agent, his business
Published in 1922, Babbitt was an immediate bestseller and is considered with Main Street as Lewis's masterwork. The word 'babbittry' entered the American lexicon within a year of publication.
Discussion questions
- George Babbitt is an entirely successful middle-class American businessman who is also deeply unfulfilled. How does Lewis develop this portrait — with contempt, with sympathy, or with something that keeps both alive?
- The novel was published in 1922 and Lewis was awarded the Nobel Prize partly on its strength. What does Babbitt say about American society in the 1920s — and what remains accurate about its diagnosis?
- Babbitt's brief rebellion — his attempt to live differently — fails completely. How does Lewis use this failure — as tragedy, as comedy, or as the novel's main argument?
- The word 'Babbitt' entered the English language as a noun meaning a complacent, conformist businessman. What does this linguistic fate say about the novel's success — and about the type Lewis created?
- Lewis uses Babbitt both to mock and to pity his protagonist. How does this ambivalence work — and does it make the satire stronger or less focused?
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