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Babbitt\'s rebellion reaches its peak. Fortified by his affair with Tanis Judique, he no longer cares what his old friends think of him. At the Athletic Club he openly praises Seneca Doane and Lord Wycombe (though we still may doubt he knows who Lord Wycombe really is), and not even Vergil Gunch\'s rough words make him back down.
At last, Babbitt thinks, he\'s found the woman who will make him happy. Compared to Mrs. Babbitt, Tanis is young, exotic, carefree. She\'s also discreet, pretending to be a business client when out with Babbitt in public. Babbitt is afraid his wife will find out about the affair (she already suspects something, he fears), but he finds it impossible even to imitate affection toward her. When, after New Year\'s, Mrs. Babbitt says she must visit her sick sister, Babbitt doesn\'t protest the way he once would have. Instead he goes to see Tanis.
Babbitt\'s entire life changes. The man who had once seemed completely tied to routine now goes wild with sexual desire, whiskey, and new friends--Tanis\'s friends, who call themselves \"The Bunch.\" They include Carrie Nork, a spinsterish woman who tries futilely to look youthful; Minnie Sonntag, clever and sarcastic; three weak-looking young men; and one man of Babbitt\'s age, Fulton Bemis. Babbitt dislikes them at first and dislikes Tanis for being with them. But he weakens, and within two weeks is almost a charter member of this gossiping group.
Once Babbitt has undertaken one act of rebellion he finds chances for others. The old Babbitt had disapproved of his neighbors, the Doppelbraus, for their loud, drunken parties. The new Babbitt finds them more interesting than the respectable Littlefields and happily attends the parties he once condemned. The old Babbitt was unsuccessful in romancing Louetta Swanson. The new Babbitt succeeds. He\'s \"a decent and well-trained libertine\" now. (That is, of course, an ironic contradiction in terms.)
The libertine Babbitt drives drunkenly, staggers into his house, feels stupid for spending time with people he doesn\'t like. Every morning he resolves to change, but by noon his resolve is weakening; by four he\'s drinking from his flask; and by six he\'s back with the Bunch.
But his friends are growing suspicious, and frustrated at Babbitt\'s desire to keep their affair secret, Tanis demands to go places with him openly. During lunch at the Hotel Thornleigh her elegant dress brings stares, including--Babbitt is horrified to discover--the stares of Vergil Gunch.
Later that afternoon Gunch appears at Babbitt\'s office. Babbitt fears that Gunch will make an accusation about Tanis, but the coal dealer wants to discuss something else. Gunch and other conservative Zenith businessmen are disturbed by communism, socialism, and labor unrest. A nationwide organization, the Good Citizens\' League, has been formed to combat such evils, and Gunch wants to form a chapter in Zenith. The League will oppose anyone who holds political views that differ from its own. \"Social boycotts\"--refusing to socialize or do business with nonconformists--will be the first tactic. If that doesn\'t work, Gunch hints, more severe punishments will be carried out.
NOTE: THE GOOD CITIZENS\' LEAGUE Here Lewis is again satirizing politics as practiced in the America of the early 1920s. As we\'ve already seen, the early part of the decade was a time of considerable political unrest. One conservative response to this unrest, which was often viewed as communist inspired, was the formation of groups like the Good Citizens\' League. To Lewis, such groups were far worse than the threats they claimed to fight, for they were attempting to crush freedom of speech.
Babbitt is at first noncommittal, and when Gunch cites Seneca Doane as the sort of man the GCL will oppose, he defends Doane as an old friend. But Gunch warns that even friendship mustn\'t stand in the way of the fight \"for decency and the security of our homes.\"
Now comes the moment Babbitt has been dreading. Gunch announces that everyone knows about Babbitt\'s suspicious friendship with Doane and about his affair with Tanis Judique. At first Babbitt\'s old friends blamed his errors on the sorrow he felt for Paul Riesling, but they can no longer be so tolerant. Babbitt had better return to his conservative ways, Gunch warns; he had better join the Good Citizens\' League.
Babbitt goes to dinner alone. He senses that his friends are talking about him, spying on him. He tells himself that he won\'t go to see Tanis. But for now, his desire remains stronger than his cowardice: he does go to see her, late at night.
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