An Analysis Of Realism And Satire In Sinclair Lewis's Babbitt

Sinclair Lewis (1885-1951) won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1930, the first American writer to be so honored. Babbitt (1922) is Lewis's most influential novel. It is a satirical portrayal of an average American business man who longs for freedom and self-fulfillment but whose environment enslaves him and prevents him from finding freedom. The novel is characterized by sharp satire and critic realism. Based on the development and characteristics of realism and satire in American literature, this thesis focuses on analyzing their embodiments in Babbitt in order to understand the protagonist Babbitt's helplessness and the writer's complex feelings toward him. Afterwards the thesis still analyzes Lewis's realistic techniques and strategy of satire to explore their effects in the novel. Finally, the combination of realism and satire is analyzed to reveal Lewis's ambivalent feelings for the middle class.