Angel In The House First, Working Outside If You Can:Lewis’View Of Women

This thesis studies Sinclair Lewis’ view of women by reading his three best novels, namely, Main Street, Babbitt and Arrowsmith. The study is carried out by analyzing the woman characters of the three novels, specifically, analyzing Carol and her relationship with her husband Doctor Kennicott, and analyzing the women involved with the male main characters of Babbitt and Arrowsmith and the different endings of the relationship between the woman and the man.By reading these three books, the thesis concludes that male chauvinism, instead of feminism, is the continuous thread in Lewis’ writing. Lewis, in his novels, gives only two out of nine women good results with man:Carol, who was an angel in the house in the end, although still vaguely putting her hopes for rebellion on her baby daughter; and Myra, who has been, is, and always will be the angel in the house. The rest are defective who should not deserve a good end with man:Zilla, who nagged and manipulated Paul; Tanis, who was once the wife of another man and then mistress of Babbitt; the fairy girl, who only appeared in Babbitt’s dream; Leora, who had everything necessary to be an angel except her inability to have a child; Joyce, who remarried yet still a self-centered woman; Madeline, who was a conceited woman only caring about money and taste; and Orchid, who was loyal to no man. By his novels, Lewis expressed male chauvinism view of women’s social position through male main characters.