Comic Inspiration

Sinclair Lewis really engages the reader by the disturbing correctness of his character’s pure thought pattern. Pure in a sense far from pure; the original thought pattern which then became polished and refined over time. Much of the conversation within Babbitt then takes the reader to the comical state where the characters personal desires are interjected into the later logical line of thought. It has been suggested that his characters are merely caricatures which obtain no real humanity and simply exemplify a “type”. This is mistaking an element of Lewis’s style; he has an undistinguished line between comic and reality. When reading you must read as if every word of the character has humor behind it, yet the tale is not to be laughed about. It is almost righteous in this respect; providing light humor for an instructive end. Quite different from Fitzgerald’s characters who exemplify the absurdity of everything but are harder to digest in their ordinary actions. Lewis then picks an upright character to show the confusion of selfish desire and the overall logical system that character upholds. He still thinks highly of the logic of a good system, not casting it all to the wind. This is illustrated by the set up of the novel and of course Babbitt’s blusterous manner. Talking to his son about the spiritual and mental side of America’s power; in defense against the accusation that it was all “material” he expounds, “they think that these mechanical improvements are all that we stand for; whereas to a real thinker, he sees that spiritual and, uh, dominating movements like Efficiency, and Rotarianism, and Prohibition, and Democracy are what comprise our deepest and truest wealth” (65). This is really comical. He stumbles upon himself and ends up letting off that the real purpose he finds in these “spiritual” ideas is domination. Further Babbitt shows a continued inability to grasp the broader state of the affairs which people live for and wrestle with. Freedom, self-control, and purpose escape him completely. We find out that he does not even love his wife, but was suckered into accepting her like he was coxed into buying into all of his ideals.