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That night in bed, Mrs. Babbitt wakes up complaining of a pain in her side. Babbitt calls Dr. Patten, who finds signs of appendicitis.
In the face of his wife\'s illness, Babbitt loses whatever courage he still possessed. Though earlier that evening he had been longing to see Tanis, he now looks at his sick wife and realizes he\'s tied to her permanently, for better or for worse.
In the morning Dr. Patten returns and tells Babbitt he\'ll be bringing in another doctor for consultation. Babbitt goes briefly to his office but is too distracted to work. When Dr. Patten returns, the consulting physician turns out to be Dr. Dilling, the surgeon who demanded that Babbitt join the GCL.
Dilling diagnoses the problem as appendicitis and tells Babbitt his wife must be operated on immediately lest peritonitis set in. Mrs. Babbitt is terrified. (An appendectomy was a more serious operation in the 1920s than it generally is today.) Her fear weakens Babbitt: he vows that he loves her more than anything in the world, and when she piteously says it might be a good thing if she did die because she\'s old and stupid and ugly, he begins to sob.
Babbitt\'s revolt is over. It was, he sees, doomed from the start. He\'s too tied to his wife; he\'s too tied to life in Zenith. All he had enjoyed was a final fling before \"the paralyzed contentment of middle age.\"
Mrs. Babbitt is hurried into the operating room while Babbitt waits and worries. The fear he feels makes him want to completely repent of his rebellion. He swears faithfulness to his wife, to Zenith, to business, to the Boosters\' Club, to all the values he abandoned by befriending Seneca Doane and having an affair with Tanis Judique. A nurse announces that the operation has been a success.
Mrs. Babbitt remains in the hospital for seventeen days. Her illness brings the husband and wife together: Babbitt hints that he\'s had an affair, but Mrs. Babbitt, far from feeling hurt, seems flattered her husband was worthy of a \"Wicked Woman\'s\" attentions.
Just as he returns to his wife, Babbitt returns to his old conservative friends. They rally around the Babbitts in this time of need, bringing jelly, novels, and bed jackets to Mrs. Babbitt in the hospital.
NOTE: THE COMFORT AND LIMITS OF FRIENDSHIP IN ZENITH Past chapters of Babbitt have amply shown you the cruelties of life in Zenith. This chapter shows you some of the kindnesses. Vergil Gunch and Babbitt\'s other old friends are fond of Mrs. Babbitt and truly anxious about her health. And they\'re genuinely concerned that Babbitt return to their side. But Lewis doesn\'t want you to forget that these are the same people who made Babbitt an exile in his own city. Zenith is a friendly place, but friendship is extended only to those who conform. That\'s one of the chief ways Zenith guarantees conformity.
At the end of his visit, Vergil Gunch asks Babbitt to join the Good Citizens\' League. Joyfully Babbitt agrees. Rebellion has taken more strength than he possesses. Within two weeks he\'s calling Seneca Doane wicked, denouncing labor unions and immigrants, and praising golf, morality, and bank accounts. Zenith is victorious.
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