The Importance Of Setting In Sinclair Lewis Babbitt

Luke Mitchell-Nelson
Summer Reading

Humans are products of their environment. It does not come as a surprise that where and when a story takes place has drastic effects on the thoughts, actions, and attitudes of the characters. A story can have distinct moods, tied directly to distinct settings. Some authors provide setting with vivid color, sound, lighting, some elect to leave much to the imagination of the reader. But without a doubt, setting plays an extremely vital role in the atmosphere of a story. The setting provided in the novel Babbitt, by Sinclair Lewis, provides a beautiful backdrop to the intricacies of the story. The novel has an extremely interesting mood to it, accompanied by extremely interesting ideas. Before the setting
of the novel is discussed, the setting the author, and by extent, the whole of America, was in at its writing must be noted. The book was written in 1922, at the height of the prohibition, which comes into play in the story. It was written in post-World War one America, in the roaring twenties, at the end of the progressive era. The most important idea to keep in mind when reading or discussing Babbitt is that at the time, the ideal of the strong, capable all-American businessman, the family man, was held close at heart across the country. The story takes place in the city of Zenith.
Zenith is a fictitious city designed by the author to represent the perfectly average American midsize city. Zenith is just beginning to blossom, with beautiful real estate and a vibrant city life. Sinclair Lewis masterfully paints the city in this sort of “mechanical”, grey, cynical, shade of monotony and conformity. Throughout the book the author references, through omnipotent third person perspective, that what many in the city take as their own sense of individuality is actually shared by many. Lewis successfully creates this sense that throughout the entire city there is a cold sense of disappointment, a sense of sameness, invisible to its
inhabitants. Sinclair Lewis has a very peculiar way of providing setting. Lewis continually switches in and out of his own cynical observations on George F. Babbitt, the protagonist’s, situation, and the situation itself. He uses his thoughts to create much more of an unspoken atmosphere, than a physical setting. The most jarring sections of the book are when Lewis fuses his own thoughts into those of Babbitt. Lying in bed, watching how the sunset drew a shadow across the curtain, Babbitt comes to a conclusion. A small part of him admits that his entire life is now unbearably mechanical, pretentious, and unremarkable (234). The author uses moments like these to sneak in ideas that add up to who Babbitt is, and who he becomes through the course of the novel.

The author’s description of setting is precisely worded but subtle.
Never is a word out of place, his meaning is always clear and exact when he means to inspire an observation about the characters or setting. His usage of language is constantly pointing out an unconscious drive for social status and appearance, slipping in notes of a boring conformity, in a way that could have just as easily gone completely unnoticed. When Babbitt puts on his best suit Lewis describes it as “well cut, well made, and completely undistinguished”, and his shoes “were black laced boots, good boots, honest boots, standard boots, extraordinarily uninteresting boots” (9). Lewis could have just as easily simply described what Babbitt was wearing but he had to provide this nonverbal setting. He picks his words wisely, precisely, and gets his point
across. Babbitt, the tired, dissatisfied, middle aged man, desperate to live the life he missed out on, before it’s too late, is a product of his environment. Living in a city like Zenith: cold, mechanical, unremarkable, has its effect on people. Sinclair Lewis’ beautiful word choice really drives the setting home. Babbitt relies heavily on the author’s ability to paint an implied atmospheric setting to create much of the interpersonal and intrapersonal developments in the story.