Babbitt

n.
A narrow-minded, self-satisfied person with an unthinking attachment to middle-class values and materialism.

[After George F. Babbitt, the main character in the novel Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis.]

Babbittry Bab'bitt·ry n.

(BAB-it)

noun
A self-satisfied narrow-minded person who conforms to conventional ideals of business and material success.

Etymology
After the main character in Sinclair Lewis's 1922 novel Babbitt

Usage
"'I've learned to be a merchant without being a Babbitt,' [David Schwartz] told Journal Sentinel book editor." — Jim Higgins; Bookseller Sought to Feed the Soul; The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; Jun 8, 2004.

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Contents: Author Biography Plot Summary Characters Themes Style Historical Context Critical Overview Criticism Sources Further Reading

Sinclair Lewis
1922

Lewis won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1930 on the strength of a number of significant works, including Arrowsmith (1925), Elmer Gantry (1927), and Babbitt, a satire of the prosperous and conservative business class of 1920s America. Published in New York in 1922, Lewis's novel follows two years of realtor George F. Babbitt's life, during which Babbitt goes from a lifestyle of complete conformity with the business world, to a period of rebellion including heavy drinking and adultery, and back again to conformity. Throughout this journey, Lewis skillfully highlights the lack of culture in medium-sized American cities during the Prohibition Era, the hypocrisy and corruption of pro-business organizations, and the emptiness in typical businessmen's lives.

Babbitt is more than an embodiment of what is wrong with America, however. He is a vivid and lifelike character searching for meaning in a life dominated by conformity and loneliness. Babbitt tries to rebel in every way he knows until a conservative organization threatens his business because of his new liberal ideas, at which point he falls back into the lifestyle of what Lewis called a "Standardized Citizen." In a society that, today, retains many of the basic values that Lewis attacks, Babbitt's struggle continues to engage readers and expose some of the deepest and most longstanding infirmities of American culture.

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - babbittmetal, hvidmetal, lejemetal, lejeforing

Français (French)
n. - babbitt (métal), paroi de métal babitt

Deutsch (German)
n. - Babbitt, selbstzufriedener Spießer

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - "λευκό" μέταλλο (αντιτριβικό κράμα ψευδάργυρου με αντιμόνιο και χαλκό)

Italiano (Italian)
uomo d'affari all'americana, lega metallica antifrizione

Português (Portuguese)
n. - conformista (m), metal (m) branco, personagem (m) e título de romance de Sinclair Lewis

Русский (Russian)
обыватель

Español (Spanish)
n. - burgués, conformista, metal antifricción

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - kälkborgare, inskränkt (trist) typ, småborgare

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
巴比特合金

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 巴比特合金

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 배빗 합금

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - バビット合金, バビット合金の軸受, バビット
v. - バビット合金を張る

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮כל אחת מהסגסוגות הרכות של טין, אנטימון, נחושת ועוד, המשמשות להפחתת חיכוך במיסבים, מיסב מרופד ע"י סגסוגת מתכת מסוג זה‬

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