The American Dream in Sinclair Lewis' Babbit

1181 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Key elements of sinclair lewis babbitt

"Do as most do, and men will speak well of thee."

[Thomas Fuller (1654-1734):Gnomologia]

Men have a dream to improve their lives and better their social status but each

man does not realize that he pursues this dream in hopes of pleasing others and

not for his own well being. Fuller's quotation demonstrates that people find

success and social mobility if they act and do what others want them to do. The

American dream of success and happiness can not be reached independently because

people need to feel accepted to achieve satisfaction. Each man strives to

improve his place in the community oblivious to the hypocrisy around him.

Everyone works to impress others rather than pleasing himself. Paralleling

Fullers quotation, Sinclair Lewis' Babbit is a satirical portrayal of a man in

search of himself enveloped by a society of hypocrisy . George F. Babbit, a

middle class man, struggles to find social mobility and beatitude. Babbit

overlooks the essential items of life and concentrates his attention towards

material goals and impressing the upper class. Due to the loss of his best

friend, Babbit realizes his life has no meaning and rebels against society's

conformity destroying his reputation. Lacking the courage to be independent,

Babbit's dream of true ecstasy crumbles when he succumbs to hypocritical

lifestyle realizing that he needs conformity. Strongly influenced by a

sanctimonious society, Babbit, a man in search for himself, realizes that he

needs conformity to live.

Babbit dreams of improving his status in the community, not realizing that

hypocrisy is influencing every decision or action he makes. Babbit concentrates

his time and energies towards activities and events that impress the upper class.

His life revolves around material items and goals. Mr. and Mrs. Babbit host a

dinner party, only inviting the utmost respectable couples. They plan a

"highbrow affair…with evening clothes required" in hopes of impressing their

prosperous guests. The evening is filled with meaningless conversation and the

men tell crude and unsophisticated jokes. Everyone seems to be having a

wonderful time even though there is no real meaning in the evening. Shortly

afterwards Babbits "name and face" become noticed throughout the city. In

another attempt to impress the upper class, Babbit delivers a stirring speech

and suddenly finds that he has become one of the most "popular and well-known

figures" at the convention. Babbit's dream of improving his position is coming

true, although Babbit is oblivious to society's hypocrisy. From a solid citizen,

Babbit becomes an important citizen and volunteers his services as an orator for

a political campaign.

Show More
Related

  • Upton Sinclair's The Jungle - The Lie of the American Dream

    919 Words  | 2 Pages

    In The Jungle, Sinclair deeply understands his subjects and can make the plots real for the reader. Even in a small section of the book, Sinclair makes me feel, imagine and contemplate his words. Chapters 18 through 23, were chapters that Sinclair took time and effort to write and make it to perfection. In my own perspective, I think he achieved this accomplishment and made these chapters a realistic event.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Class In America By Gregory Mantsios

    580 Words  | 2 Pages

    and it manifests itself in a multitude of cultural and social ways.” The author discussed the problems that occur from economic and social classes. The purpose of this argument is to debate on what kind of people will be successful in life. Everyone has a shot at being successful, and that they do with it is

    Read More

  • The Broken American Dream Exposed in The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

    1065 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sinclair's novel is meant to entirely reject the capitalist system and to bring in its place a socialist system. In this novel, capitalism and its exploitation of the immigrants and other workers, are in fact shown to be tools of the capitalist bosses, used as another means to control and mislead them. In Sinclair's novel the broken dreams of Jurgis Rudkis and his fellow Lithuanian immigrants, unions are meant to be institutions which give false hope to the workers. They live in utterly dreadful circumstances and are exploited like animals by their capitalist bosses. The women are forced to work at an inhuman pace, lose money if they cannot, and then fired if the complain. (106). And the men in the packinghouses like slaves in hell. When Jurgis is lucky enough to be picked for work, he finds working conditions to hardly fitting of the American Dream for which he left his native Lithuania. Sinclair is relentless in providing page after page of detailed horrors the immigrants faced everyday at work, "there were the beef luggers who carried two-hundred-pound quarters into the refrigerators cars, a fearful kind of work, that began at four o'clock in the morning, and that wore out the most powerful men in a few years.......of..... al those who used knives, you could scarcely find a person who had the use of his thumb (101).

    Read More

  • Values Of The American Dream In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

    953 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the late nineteenth century to the early twentieth century, many immigrants came to the United States to pursue the American Dream. The American Dream is a belief that anyone can have success and prosperity through hard work in a society where upward social mobility is possible. The values and ideals of the American dream consist of democracy, equality, fairness, justice, and liberty. In Upton Sinclair’s novel, The Jungle, he portrays through a Lithuanian immigrant family the hardships immigrants faced while seeking a better life in America. One member of the Lithuanian immigrant family is Jurgis Rudkus, who marries a young woman named Ona Lukoszait. After they get married, Jurgis and Ona move into a home in Chicago with some of Ona’s family members. As the family struggles to pay for the house, they undertake stressful jobs and become workers of cruel and selfish employers. Although employers exploit Jurgis, Jurgis continues to tell Ona that he “will work harder” (Sinclair, 22) to help them achieve the American Dream. Upton Sinclair portrays how capitalism attacks the values of the American Dream through the ugly effects of capitalism, such as exploitation, poor working conditions, dishonesty, manipulation, and corruption.

    Read More

  • The American Dream In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

    1199 Words  | 3 Pages

    During the Gilded age, the United States used its growing industrial development and began to appear as a profitable powerhouse. During this time America had a sufficient economic capital to endure such hasty industrialization; however it was a different story when it came to labor. The solution to this problem was European immigration. Since many European immigrants came to America looking for work opportunities, they unintentionally provided an alternative of cheap labor for American factories and businesses. These Europeans were thrilled to come to the United States. They saw America as a land of opportunity, and a chance to live the "American Dream". Upon arrival to this dreamland of opportunity, the United State's capitalistic society ruined many ambitions of said immigrants and embedded them into a harsh routine that controlled each aspect of their lives. In Upton Sinclair’s story The Jungle we are introduced to Jurgis Rudkus and his family, they are poor Lithuanian immigrants who came to America in search of an easier life, only to end up working in Packingtown also known as the meatpacking plants of Chicago. To some readers Jurgis and his family face massive hardships such as cruel and hazardous working conditions, poverty and famine, corrupt businessmen who take their money and crooked politicians who take advantage of them. To other readers, Jurgis and his family made rash and senseless decisions on their own. Upton Sinclair's The Jungle accentuates the manipulation of many immigrants as they attempt to achieve the unachievable "American Dream".

    Read More

  • The American Dream in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men

    1167 Words  | 3 Pages

    Thomas Hobbes in his Leviathan states that, "in the state of nature mans life is nasty, brutish and short". In depression era America, no greater truth could be said. There were millions unemployed, largely unskilled and living on the margins of society. The lowest of the low were the migrant labourers travelling from place to place trying to scratch a living. They often had to travel illegally by freight car with all its consequent dangers. Their life expectancy was low, crime was rampant and despair was a fellow traveller. This is the setting of John Steinbeck's, 'Of Mice and Men'.

    Read More

  • American Dream in The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald

    913 Words  | 2 Pages

    America is the land with the most dreamers. America is the land of opportunity and equality. In America your dreams can be fulfilled if you work hard to achieve your goals. The American dream to most is, to be wealthy and to be able to afford anything. Wealth is a plus in life because you can afford expensive items that do not necessarily have a use, but it does not necessarily matter how hard you try or how much you spend you can not buy happiness. Although being wealthy can make you seem happy on the outside, on the inside you would not be as happy as you seem. In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author shows how being wealthy will not make you happy. Many people have voiced their opinions of the America dream.

    Read More

  • Masculinity in Shakespeare's Macbeth

    574 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ambition seems to be in all men, and all men strive to fill their need for it.

    Read More

  • The American Dream in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

    969 Words  | 2 Pages

    "Life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement" (Truslow, James 1931)

    Read More

  • The American Dream in Death Of A Salesman, by Arthur Miller

    979 Words  | 2 Pages

    Success: Accomplishing Your Dream Completing the "American Dream" is a controversial issue. The American Dream can be defined as having a nice car, maybe two or three of them, having a beautiful, healthy family, making an impact on the world, or even just having extra spending money when the bills are paid. In the play "Death Of A Salesman," by Arthur Miller, the "American Dream" deals with prosperity, status, and being immortalized.

    Read More

  • Hospers: Self-Interest And Selfishness

    1054 Words  | 3 Pages

    In other words, self-interest is a person’s pleasure, and chasing self-interest as a kind of happiness is comprehensible and somehow necessary, as Fr. Fagothey mentioned, “Man is free in the choice of concrete objects by whose possession he hopes to obtain happiness.” (Fagothey, 47) He also wrote, “We naturally desire health, wealth, knowledge, and other goods; but we cannot always obtain them.” (Fagothey, 56) Gaining all desire is necessary for people rather than simply survive. In this case, there is nothing wrong with reaching a personal goal and dreaming without impeding others, because as Stoic scholar declared, “What people constantly, are things that are not within their control.” (Hospers, 53) Therefore, trying to accomplish desire, promoting self is the only way to reach. For example, if one person wants to be wise, go to school and study hard, finally they gain the knowledge, which in other way finish his personal interest. Without promoting him/herself, it is impossible to reach this goal. Promptly, if everyone tries their best to capture the best by taking this kind of active progress into the society, as each one make little progress; it actually has huge influence to the society.

    Read More

  • Harlem by Langston Hughes

    672 Words  | 2 Pages

    population is oppressed and must ignore or postpone their dreams. The more dreams are postponed

    Read More

  • The American Dream In The Great Gatsby And Of Mice And Men

    1438 Words  | 3 Pages

    Americans live in constant pursuit of what they want more than anything, the American Dream. The perception of the American Dream varies from person to person, depending on what they hope to accomplish. In The Great Gatsby and Of Mice and Men the American Dream manifests in various extravagant and corrupt forms. The lives of these characters revolve around achieving their version of the American Dream.

    Read More

  • The American Dream in John Steinbeck's Essay, America and Americans

    357 Words  | 1 Pages

    John Steinbeck, in his essay America and Americans, uses many contradictions to explain his views on the American Dream. I have witnessed and experienced many of these contradictions in my life. Through my experiences, I have learned to believe that the American dream is no more than just a dream.

    Read More

  • The American Dream in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Great Gatsby

    1197 Words  | 3 Pages

    The American dream was a vision shared by the American people who desired their land to be improved and wealthier for every individual, with the opportunity for everyone in accordance to achievement. The dream is based on every individual working hard to become successful with an abundance of money, a nice house, two children and a high-quality job. In the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the American dream symbolizes being free to come and go with the river, not to have restrictions, and to take pleasure in the wide-open Western edge. The dream’s beauty and liberty is depicted as a requirement for Huck, and for Jim who is a slave. The book shows that the American dream consequently turns out to be a celebration of freedom, for physical organization and rules, and also chauvinism of the Southern society in the slavery period. However, The Great Gatsby, which was written by Fitzgerald, is a figurative meditation on the 1920s breakdown of American dreams, in a period of unparalleled wealth and material surplus. Fitzgerald depicts the 1920s as a period of rotten moral and social value that is shown through America’s sarcasm, gluttony, and empty chase of enjoyment.

    Read More

More about The American Dream in Sinclair Lewis' Babbit

Open Document