Symbolism Found in Babbitt’s Home and Habits
...upper-class folks. The upper class regards the middle class with the same disdain and pretentiousness with which the middle class regards the working class. They do not commiserate nor converse with anyone in a lower social status than they themselves are in. They are the epitome of snobbery. One of the characters in the novel, Dr. Kurt Yavitch, describes the city of Zenith perfectly when he states, “It has standardized all the beauty out of life” (102). The city consists not of parks, cathedrals, and “mom and pop” stores, but of looming office buildings. The direction of society is symbolized flawlessly by a mere couple of chairs in Babbitt’s home. “From the Babbitt’s former house had come two much-carved rocking chairs, but the other chairs were new, very deep and restful, upholstered in blue and gold-striped velvet” (93). A rocking chair symbolizes an era of old-home comfort, when people used to sit on their porch and watch the children play in the street. These chairs were being phased out in Babbitt’s home, taken over by the newer, bigger, and better chairs of the time. The same was happening to the city; the old were slowly being driven out by the new. Office buildings, things that became more representative of the time in which they were living, were replacing places representative of old times. There is symbolism abound when Lewis speaks of the material objects that Babbitt possesses. He first describes the parlor: “A blue velvet davenport faced the fireplace, and behind it was a cherrywood table and tall piano-lamp with a shade of Golden silk. (Two out of every three houses in Floral Heights had before the fireplace a davenport, a mahogany table real or imitation, and a piano-lamp with a shade of yellow or rose silk)” (93). He goes on to describe Babbitt’s large cabinet Victrola, adding, “Eight out of every nine Floral Heights houses had a cabinet phonograph” (94). Lastly, Lewis vividly describes the pictures on the wall, pointing out that “Nineteen out of every twenty houses in Floral Heights” had the same exact pictures hanging on their wall as Babbitt had (94). Lewis really wanted the reader to understand the significance of these objects. He makes it a point to numerously mention the fact that these are the same objects in most of the houses in Zenith. Lewis wants the reader to understand just what kind of society Babbitt is living in: one of complete monotony, devoid of any genuine individuality or character. George Babbitt’s bedtime habits also embody the character of the society in which he lives: “The blankets had to be tucked in at the foot of his cot…The rag rug was adjusted so that his bare feet would strike it when he arose in the morning. The alarm clock was wound. The hot water bottle was filled and placed precisely two feet from the bottom of the cot” (98). His bedtime ritual was very precise, and it was performed with an almost machine-like precision and speed. The community of Zenith worked in precisely this way; they wanted everything to be perfect. It also shows how boring and monotonous life in Zenith is. Nothing changes but the buildings and technology. The citizens of this city have boring lives, life passing them by as they mechanically go through their days. The world around them may be changing, but their way of life stays the same. Even if one did not want this for himself/herself, they had to conform to the norm just to function in society. This became such a normal thing to do that the citizens could not even make a distinction between their own personal taste and the preference of the town. Lewis captures this idea beautifully when he talks about Babbitt, saying, “It is not known whether he enjoyed his sleeping porch becaus...