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Babbitt\'s restlessness resurfaces as the dinner drags on. It\'s another sign of his growing discontent that--apparently for the first time--he admits to himself that these so-called friends bore him. He longs to escape to Maine.
Spiritualism was a popular fad in the 1920s, and Babbitt and his guests indulge in it with a seance, trying to summon the spirits of the dead. Mrs. Jones wants to talk with Dante, the fourteenth-century Italian poet whose Divine Comedy is widely considered to be one of the greatest works of world literature. Zenith, of course, knows and cares almost nothing about Dante. Orville Jones calls him \"the wop,\" and Vergil Gunch says that while he hasn\'t read Dante (you may have noticed that in Zenith people are very fond of criticizing writers they\'ve never read), he knows that Dante can\'t be as skilled a poet as the ones (like Chum Frink) whose works fill the pages of American newspapers.
NOTE: ZENITH AS HELL To help summon the spirit of Dante, Vergil Gunch invents the dead poet\'s eternal address: \"1658 Brimstone Avenue, Fiery Heights, Hell.\" The name Fiery Heights is a play on the name of the Zenith neighborhood--Floral Heights--where Gunch and Babbitt and everyone else at the table live. And some critics have noted that in many ways Zenith--dull, competitive, and dishonest--resembles a twentieth-century, all-American Hell.
Dante speaks. It\'s a fraud, of course, but Babbitt distrusts poets so much that he fears one like Chum Frink might actually be able to communicate with the dead--a talent almost as dangerous as being a socialist. Yet even now, when he\'s being his most narrow-minded, Babbitt reveals some sensitivity. As he listens to Vergil Gunch\'s jokes, Babbitt wishes he had actually read Dante. He feels a sudden contempt for the people he calls his friends, and must ignore his feelings by jokingly asking Dante to read a poem.
At long last the guests leave. Babbitt\'s had a terrible evening, and though he\'s kind enough to lie to his wife that the party was wonderful, he isn\'t a good enough liar to convince her. He complains that he\'s tired, and admits that he Wants to go to Maine a week early, without Mrs. Babbitt.
His wife is hurt that he wants to do something without her. Finally he breaks down. \"But can\'t you see that I\'m shot to pieces?\" Seeing her husband\'s true weariness, Mrs. Babbitt agrees to let him go.
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