Sinclair Lewis and Babbitt

What does the novel say about materialism? What, if any, are the similarities between the 1920s American society and the 21st Century American society with regard to materialism?

Babbitt and Jake both believe that achieving a higher social status will make them more American. To Jake, social status is very much tied to the accumulation of wealth. He berates Mr. Bernstein for making less than he does each week. He prides himself on having more wealth than other in his home country and some of his fellow workers. Jake, however, never actively tries to climb the proverbial social ladder. To him, wealth and social status are one and the same, so he tries to achieve both through the pursuit of wealth. Babbitt, on the other hand, has a much more diverse thought process when considering the relationship between himself and his social status. He knows the difference between accumulation of wealth and social status, and while he already

The roaring 20’s was an astounding time in the history of the United States of America. Many authors published novels, poems, and other works of literature to show their readers what it would be like to experience this time frame. Some examples of these works include The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and “Harlem” by Langston Hughes. Both of these pieces of literature include literary elements to appeal to the reader’s senses and imagination. A prevalent theme that has been found in works of the roaring 20’s is the wealth that someone may or may not achieve. Literary elements such as figurative language, irony, and symbolism are profound in both The Great Gatsby and “Harlem”, adding depth to both literature works.

From the ideas shared in the novel, it is evident that the writer defines his ideal society in the form of an antithesis of existing society. The author takes the initiative of informing the American population - using the novel’s romantic medium - on matters concerning individualism, which is notable in an argument by Andrew Carnegie who claims

Within the 19th century American atmosphere, is a realm of cultural tropes that distinguishes themselves among the common literature that people read. Among these people, are different demographics as each publication caters to a specific audience on the basis of race, gender, and residing region. While the readers of these publications come from varying backgrounds and belief systems, there are unique similarities that provide insight as to how people were reading in the 19th century. These similarities contextualize what these readers were looking for in these publications as well as their interests and habits in respect to the demographics represented in the periodical archive.

John Steinbeck was an American author who won the nobel prize in 1962. He authored 27 books, including 16 novels. Most of his work that he made was in central California

Who was Upton Sinclair is a question that is easily answered. Upton Sinclair was one in the group of American writers known as the muckrakers. Sinclair along with Ida Tarbell, Lincoln Steffens, and Ray Stannard Baker exposed scandal and corruption during the 20th century in hopes to right the injustices in the world and create a better place for everyone to live. Upton Sinclair is known as one of the most influential writers of his time due to his insuppressible ambition for equality, financial freedom, and truth. His strong desires led him to be a prominent Socialist that revealed the unfair working conditions in packing houses that eventually led to the Pure Food and Drug Act as well as the Meat Inspection Act.

Upton Sinclair was not only an activist; he was a journalist, a politician, and a writer. Born in Baltimore, Maryland on September 20, 1878, to father Upton Beall Sinclair Sr. and mother Priscilla Harden Sinclair, Sinclair Jr. was a creative child. Growing up in a house where his father was a liquor salesman, he grew up in poverty. However, he got to enjoy the spoils of the rich due to his, religiously strict, mother’s family. At the age of 10, Sinclair’s family moved from Baltimore to New York where he would soon build his foundation. At the age of 15, he was selling dime novels to create his own income. Because of his early writings, and other means of making money, he was able to enroll into New York’s City College and Columbia University.

Updike, John. “A&P”. In The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. Michael Meyer. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009. 560-564. Print.

He was born in 1902 and died in 1966. He won the Nobel Prize in literature and the

Babbitt’s sound heart is faint underneath his compliance because his identity lies within this system of corrupt morals. Babbitt cares about his good reputation within the Zenith community. He had the satisfaction of possessing the reputation of a successful real-estate agent. Babbitt’s position gave him integrity and status which he believed he deserved. His reputation was significant because it became his identity and a source of belonging.

In order to compare the poetry of Charles Baudelaire and John Wieners within the context of modernity, one must recognize the discrepancy between their time periods. Baudelaire was born in Paris in 1821, and much of his work was published after the February Revolution of 1848. John Wieners, on the other hand, was born in 1934 –67 years after Baudelaire’s death—near Boston, Massachusetts. Both poets explored sexual and drug-related themes that opposed the conventions of their society. However, poets played a larger role in Baudelaire’s modern society than in Wieners’s. People in Baudelaire’s modern society read for entertainment as well as instruction, so therefore, as a source of this entertainment, the poet and his contemporaries would naturally inhabit the mainstream, insofar as their occupation if not their fame. John Wieners, on the other hand, was pushed into the fringe of his society’s consciousness. Part of this push likely had to do with new and less demanding forms of entertainment such as television and record players. However, the much more likely caused by the subject matter of his poems. It is true that like Baudelaire, John Wieners challenged societal norms, but unlike Baudelaire, his occupation as a poet drew little attention to the skill so clearly evident within his poems.

The depressing tragedy known as Babbitt, by Lewis Sinclair, accurately portrays the convention of life in the 1920’s. Sinclair precisely evokes the conformity and orthodox life styles that shaped a growing culture. Man, in the 1920’s, is caught in a lifestyle where he is continually fed on what to think. Lewis cunningly explains the constraints of convention that plagued George Babbitt, and mocks society as a whole for its lack of liberal views. Babbitt throughout the novel seems to be trapped in a maze, and is told by “the machine” when to turn. Only when Babbitt revolts against conservative America does his life change, but the question is was it for the better?

Biographical information about the author: Chinua Achebe was born in Nigeria in 1930. He had an early career as a radio host, and later became the Senior Research Fellow at the University of Nigeria. After moving to America, he became an English professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Achebe has won numerous awards for his poetry and fiction, including the Man Booker prize and Commonwealth Poetry Price. He currently teaches at Bard College.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION. GIVE HISTORICAL CONTEXT. Both Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis and How the Other Half Lives by Jacob Riis expose injustice in society; however, Lewis establishes a connection between the unfulfilling American dream and hypocrisy of society in the 1920s in the middle class, and Riis exposes the gap between the impoverished and dangerous conditions of the poor and the uncaring or uneducated middle- and upper-class in the context of New York.