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Babbitt\'s motor car \"was poetry and tragedy, love and heroism.\" Lewis\'s inflated language shows that Babbitt\'s life in fact lacks the poetry and heroism he thinks it possesses. But of course Babbitt isn\'t alone in idolizing his automobile--sixty years later, many Americans still feel the same way. Lewis wants us to see Babbitt for the shallow man he is, but he also wants us to remember that there may be more than a little Babbitt in each of us, too.
Babbitt has as neighbors the Sam Doppelbraus and the Howard Littlefields. Babbitt dislikes the Doppelbraus. They\'re Bohemian--a word that usually describes artists who disregard society\'s standards, but that Babbitt uses to criticize anyone who has fun in a way he doesn\'t approve of. (Later we\'ll see his attitude toward the Doppelbraus, and Bohemians, change.) Babbitt admires Littlefield, even though he is an intellectual, a member of a group Babbitt normally distrusts. But even with a Ph.D., Littlefield is as dull and conventional and devoted to business as Babbitt is--no wonder Babbitt likes him.
NOTE: NAMES IN BABBITT Like one of his favorite authors, Charles Dickens, Lewis often uses names that hint, sometimes broadly, at the nature of his characters. Because \"doppel\" in German means \"double\" and \"brau\" means \"brew,\" Doppelbrau is a good name for a heavy drinker. Similarly, Howard Littlefield\'s last name reflects the fact that, for all his education, his field--his area of competence and interest--is small, petty, unimportant. Later we\'ll meet Vergil Gunch, whose unpleasant-sounding last name is a clue to his personality, and Seneca Doane, whose first name is intended to remind you of the noble Roman statesman. And \"Babbitt\" itself carries connotations of \"rabbit\" (timid, mindless), \"baby,\" and \"babble.\" What other names in this book do you find particularly interesting? Why?
Babbitt drives from Floral Heights toward downtown Zenith, stopping for gas and grandly telling the mechanic that what the country needs \"first last and all the time is a good, sound, business administration.\" Howard Littlefield spoke the same words only minutes before--another reminder that Babbitt possesses few ideas that are his own.
Babbitt picks up a rider. Their conversation is strained: in fact, we\'ll see that many conversations in Babbitt are strained, because in Zenith only certain opinions are permissible. You can gripe mildly about the street car company, but to complain seriously is forbidden--that might be advocating socialism. The only really safe topic is the weather. What is Lewis really doing when he has Babbitt think to himself that his rider \"has no originality, no wit\"?
As Babbitt approaches downtown Zenith, he\'s cheered by the fine spring day and by the bustling city. But his upbeat feeling disappears by the time he enters the Babbitt-Thompson Realty Company, which he owns with his father-in-law, Henry P. Thompson. Not even the new \"right-thinking\" watercooler (Lewis\'s adjective again mocks the importance that material objects have in Babbitt\'s mind) can cheer him up.
Babbitt dictates a letter to his stenographer, Miss McGoun. Though, of course Babbitt doesn\'t admit his failings as a writer, any letter actually sent the way he dictated it would be thrown into the trash on arrival. It takes Miss McGoun to make Babbitt\'s prose intelligible. Next Babbitt turns his attention to a form letter that will be mimeographed by the thousands and sent to customers. Such letters and advertisements are vital to the world of Babbitt. They take the place of genuine literature, and when Babbitt is writing them he becomes in his own mind a Poet of Business.
NOTE: PARODY Just as Lewis enjoys imitating his characters\' speech, he takes pleasure in parodying their literary efforts--in exaggerating their faults for comic effect. We already saw one such parody in the society column Babbitt read in chapter 1; Babbitt\'s advertisements provide other hilarious examples of Lewis\'s skills as a parodist. Parody is a technique used today by humor magazines such as National Lampoon. You might ask yourself: are today\'s advertisements any better? How?
His dictation finished, Babbitt lets his mind wander to his pretty stenographer, thinking of her with \"a longing indistinguishable from loneliness.\" The restlessness he feels is turning him toward thoughts of an affair--though it seems he still prefers his fairy child to the flesh-and-blood women around him.
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