Babbitt · Chapter
Chapter XIV explained
Babbitt becomes a recognized orator and campaigner for Lucas Prout in the local election, opposing Seneca Doane.
What happens
Babbitt becomes a recognized orator and campaigner for Lucas Prout in the local election, opposing Seneca Doane. He delivers speeches, including a lecture on real estate and a campaign address in South Zenith, reveling in his role as a prominent citizen and defender of the standardized American way of life.
Themes in this chapter
Business and American Capitalism
Babbitt's campaign speeches and real estate lecture celebrate the businessman as the ideal citizen, equating success with moral and civic virtue.
Conformity and Materialism
Babbitt's oratory promotes the 'Standardized American Citizen' as a model of material success and social conformity, rejecting foreign ideas and individualism.
Characters to notice
- George F. Babbitt
Emerges as a prominent orator and campaigner for Lucas Prout, delivering speeches and relishing his role as a solid citizen.
- Virgil Gunch
Compliments Babbitt on his oratorical fame, noting the newspaper coverage of his lecture.
- Paul Riesling
Attends Babbitt's campaign speech in South Zenith with his wife Zilla, expressing admiration for Babbitt's stamina.
- Zilla Riesling
Accompanies Paul to Babbitt's campaign speech.
- Theodore Roosevelt Babbitt
Attends his father's campaign speech and comments on his ability to connect with the audience.
- Verona Babbitt
Attends the campaign speech with the family.
Key passages
“He entertained a Smoker of the Men's Club of the Chatham Road presbyterian Church with Irish, Jewish, and Chinese dialect stories.”
Babbitt performed ethnic stereotype jokes at a church men's club event.
Highlights Babbitt's use of humor to fit in and gain social approval.
“I tell you, Zenith and her sister-cities are producing a new generation of Americans: fellows with hair on their chests and smiles in their eyes and adding-machines in their offices.”
Babbitt boasts that Zenith and other American cities are creating a new breed of masculine, cheerful, business-minded men.
Captures Babbitt's ideal of the 'Regular Guy' and his boosterism for American capitalism.
“He did not confuse audiences by silly subtleties; Prout represented honest industry, Seneca Doane represented whining laziness, and you could take your choice.”
Babbitt simplified the election into a clear choice between hard work and laziness, avoiding complex arguments.
Illustrates Babbitt's simplistic, populist campaign style.