Babbit Essay, Research Paper

This is the story of a man named George F. Babbitt. Babbitt is, in my mind, the finest example of the materialistic person. Babbitt bases his life strictly on what he has and his social standing. Babbitt cares little for anyone but himself. He treats his wife with little respect and treats her badly. He only seems to like his daughter Tinka. His other children, Ted and Verna, seem to have little importance to him. Babbitt’s family seems to serve as an annoyance to him through the whole story. Babbitt actually seems to like very few people except for the brief moment when it seems to be advancing him socially. Babbitt lives in Floral Heights which is a rather ritzy housing development in Zenith. He describes his house and it’s perfection. He talks about the towels in the bathroom. He says that one towel is reserved for guests but that it is never used because even the guests are too scared to use it. One morning Babbitt is so annoyed with his family that when he discovers that all the family towels are wet he uses the guest towel. This is Babbitt’s own little form of rebellion. Babbitt is a real estate broker. He talks about preparing to go to work. He says that he has to make sure he wears the perfect outfit and that everything matches everything else. Babbitt takes quite awhile to prepare because he is slightly slow about finding his clothes. He can’t wear one jacket with one pair of pants he has to wear just the right one. Babbitt’s house is not really a house but rather a structure. Babbitt does not even sleep in his bedroom but rather on a sleeping porch. He can’t afford to “upset” his room. He also is not too fond of his wife and feels no dedication to her what so ever. So Babbitt sleeps on the porch. His wife is much more dedicated to her husband and she tries to help him. Babbitt does not like her though and continually steps all over her. Mrs. Babbitt runs the house while her husband works. She makes dinner and tries to help him find clothes that match. She takes care of the children who are also rather unappreciative. Mrs. Babbitt does not have much of a role in the story except as an obstacle to her husband. She seems very unsure about her husband’s devotion but when she questions him he basically ignores her. Mrs. Babbitt is also in charge of holding dinner parties with the neighbors. This is the proper thing to do in Floral Heights and they attend and throw dinner parties on the weekend. They also have card games. Mr. Babbitt is also very fond of his “cocktails”. He takes great care in the manner with which he mixes the drinks. He even goes to special efforts to find “black market” gin. Another product that Babbitt is fond of is his cigarettes and there are a few chapters dedicated to them. Babbitt discusses the various lengths that he goes to to try and quit smoking. He says that he locks his cigarettes in the bottom drawers of cabinets to prevent himself from easily finding them. This does not help and he continues to smoke. He in fact begins to smoke more often. He buys himself a nice cigar cutter and begins to treasure it as his favorite possession. Babbitt takes the smallest things very seriously. He is concerned not only with what people think of him but also what he owns. He is constantly trying to be the best or at least at par with his workers. Babbitt loves the comic strips and he reads them every night. He reads them carefully so that he can analyze every detail. He reads them because he finds them intellectually stimulating. He makes sure that all of his pictures are hung exactly in the middle of the walls and that everything is perfect in his house. He seems to find comfort in the small details. He mainly does it to try and impress the people that come and stay at his house. Babbitt has many people that he calls his friends. They are merely acquaintances but among these people are Paul and Zilla Rieslings. Every year the Babbitts travel to Maine with them. This year Babbitt decides that he wants to go on ahead so that he can take a break. He and Paul go together and the girls were going to follow. The men have a great time without the women. They stayed out every night and partied. Then they would crawl home after watching some women dance around. When the women finally arrive the real life comes back and the men are questioned about their whereabouts. They finally decide not to go out anymore. When Babbitt arrives at home his colleagues hold him in high esteem. He makes a few speeches and slowly moves up the society ladder. He is slightly disappointed that he does not become more accepted by the society climbers. Babbitt does not care though and he continues to have people over for dinner parties. He tries to convince his children that they want respectable jobs. Ted, his son, wants to train at home and not attend college. He is trying to explain this to his father who does not like the idea. Ted says that he doesn’t really want to go to college but that he would rather go to Japan. This upsets Babbitt. Babbitt tries to explain his point but then realizes that it could be worse. He decides that his son isn’t really too bad. Babbitt decides that he has a liking for young women. He begins to hit on anything n a skirt while his wife is out of town. He seems to have little remorse and actually tries to find attractive females. He finds that his mind is sinking into the gutter. If a young woman comes into his office he finds that he flirts with her. Mrs. Daniel Judique made the mistake of walking into his office on one of these days. Babbitt has an affair of sorts with her. He also has a crush on the young woman next door. She is young and married. She turns him down. When Mrs. Babbitt comes home she asks about his time alone and he leaves out the parts about the young women. She knows but she tries to accept it. The Babbits continue entertaining their guests. Mrs. Babbitt handles herself well and Babbitt finds is way back onto the social ladder. He finds out that the other people still like him. He becomes the vice president of the a club in his city. He is liked by most of the men in the town and begins to throw more parties. His wife becomes more and more annoyed about his “rendez-vous” with young ladies. He tries to escape her questions but she persists. Paul becomes so annoyed with Zila that he shots her in the shoulder and ends up in jail. He feels really bad and is glad that Babbitt is still his friend. Mrs. Babbitt says that she can’t believe that he did it. Soon Mrs. Babbitt becomes ill. Babbitt realizes that he was wrong to be so mean to her but still doesn’t really change. Ted comes home and tells his parents that he is going to be married. His mother is happy but surprised and she encourages him. Ted asks for his fathers approval while the ladies go to the kitchen. Babbitt tells Ted that he was never really happy with his life and that he should do whatever he thinks will make him happy. He tells Ted that all he really wants is for Ted to be happy and that he will be. They go together to face the parents of Ted’s new wife as well as a few other neighbors. In the end everyone is slightly happy but