On The Image Of Protagonist In Sinclair Lewis's Babbitt

As the first American author to win the Nobel Prize for literature, Sinclair Lewis has been called the vital important writer in American literature. Although a man with great talent, Lewis is, somehow, neglected and despised in the literary world. He is rarely, if even, taken seriously as an author deserves to be. Some writers regard him as a commercial writer; others simply refuse to treat him as a literary artist; and many, especially academic critics, frankly regret the decision of the Nobel Prize Committee to give him the award. However, Lewis may deserve better. He helps to discover"real America"and clear any vestiges of the genteel tradition out of the way so that a greater freedom both in technique and theme is ensured for the younger, rising generation. And Babbitt is acknowledged as the apex of Lewis's achievement.Babbitt, as Lewis's Nobel Award work, successfully portrays an image of philistine. Babbitt in the novel attempted to seek his dream and got rid of the constraint from the society he lives. Unfortunately, his entire attempt ends in failure and he returns to be a conformist without individuality. This thesis is aimed at combining analyzing the image of Babbitt applying Dream Theory from Freud and S.E. Asch's theoryThe body of this thesis consists of three parts: Partâ… shows that Babbitt is a materialist pursuer, and it consists of two parts of materialistic values and social ambition. His materialistic values are reflected indirectly from narrative scene and directly from his opinion on education and loss of business ethics. His social ambition is reflected from his social relationship, political views and religious belief. Partâ…¡indicates that Babbitt is a spiritual vacuum suffer, and it involves the torment between standardization and freedom and the agitation between dream and reality. He is suffered from standardized life, standardized thoughts and unrealistic desire for freedom, so he has to be addicted to smoking, drinking and overeating as the outlets of his torment. Applied the Fraud's dream theory, the author of the paper indicates that Babbitt also suffers from the dream and reality. His attempts to realize his dream and find the fairy girl in his dream are defeated by the cruel reality, so that he has to surrender to the reality. Partâ…¢exposes that Babbitt is a forfeiter of individuality. In this part, the author combines with S. E. Asch's theory and mainly analyzes the reason of losing individuality: the pressure from community and psychology. Scandal, former acquaintances and family in community are unbearable heavy burdens for Babbitt, meanwhile his guilt complex, no courage and despair of escape promote his complete surrender.Conclusion part serves not only as a summary of this thesis but also underlines the realistic significance of this thesis. the social problems Babbitt exposes are still pervasive nowadays. The world is in rapid change; people have got more freedom and they can choose their lifestyles unboundedly. But in contrast to the increased globalization all over the world, it is becomes stranger and stranger between people. However, the pressures of people do not lighten with time. The middle-age crisis which Babbitt encounters is not strange to cotemporary people, and it is becoming a common phenomenon in the world. In China, there are so many"Babbitt"who indulge themselves in love affaires and alcohol so as to liberate the various pressures. So it is significant to analyze the psychological pressure for this spiritual vacuum. The study of the novel can help the readers to ruminate various problems and alert them to avoid repeating Babbitt's tragedy.