What Babbitt Taught Me About Conformity in American Life | BOOK REVIEW

Thanks for watching my Babbitt book review. Babbitt is one of the seminal works of Sinclair Lewis, a now forgotten but one time Pulitzer Prize winning novelist. Babbitt tells the story of a middle class American man discovering the pitfalls of chasing fulfillment. The book is set in Zenith, a fictional Midwestern city in the prohibition era of the 1920’s
Here’s that book I talked about: amzn.to/3cgbtaC
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Chapters of the video:
00:00 Babbitt Book Report

[@michaelgarcia2973]

I remember shopping at the Goodwill Store and there were signet classic paperback books of Sinclair Lewis Main Street and Babbit back in the year 1989 and it was Babbit the book i read throughly at my Job on my lunch breaks

[@kamilziemian995]

I came here, because I learn from dr. Holly Ordway that J.R.R. Tolkien was a fan of Sinclair Lewis, he read all his books. And stated that hobbits are similar to Babbit not only in the sound of they name, but also in there character.

[@jordandavid2218]

I’m glad you found the video. I’ve also heard that about Tolkien, though I have never read the LOTR series so I’m not qualified to evaluate the comparison. Hopefully you found some value in my review!

[@kamilziemian995]

@@jordandavid2218 No one can read everything, but there is always good to explore new territories. And such unsuspected thing like master of XXth century loving such supposedly hard nose realist as Sinclair Lewis is quite good reason to find more about Lewis. I said supposedly hard nose realists, since his works seems to have a lot of over the top elements. Not to mention his alternative history novel "It Can't Happen Here", that still haunts USA imagination in XXI century.

[@sophiam2095]

Thank you for the review my friend! Best of luck with the move!

[@jordandavid2218]

Thanks for watching!

[@johchr2]

I like your comparison of cars to shoes!

[@jordandavid2218]

Thanks for taking the time to watch!

[@baddecisiontime2984]

Cool review, and great insights! Maybe it's even a question of internal vs. external validation. The drive to feel unique is fundamentally tied to social context, so maybe we just need to learn what it looks like to lean on internal validation and desire some more, and foster that. At least for the more 'superficial' matters (for lack of a better term)

[@jordandavid2218]

Thank you so much for taking the time to watch and for leaving a comment with your thoughts. I think you are correct in saying internal validation is a better means of contentment than external validation, but the cynic in me also questions whether most people who say they are doing things for themselves actually are doing them independently of how society will react to those choices. The book sort of pokes at this in the later chapters, and Lewis would likely say that trying to act independently, even in earnest, is tremendously difficult to stick to as long as we live in a society where our livelihoods are so engrained with our identities, because those who need only internal validation will draw the envy and anger of externalists and face persecution which would affect the individual’s quality of life, which few in America are willing to sacrifice even a little bit. And if that argument is true we’re stuck with, in my opinion, the choice between trying to completely change society, or trying to constantly balance our desire for being our own person and desire for being part of the pack. I don’t know, maybe there’s more room for optimism and hope that individuals will learn but reading how little American society has changed in the last century makes me doubt.

[@pilsudski36]

Anybody who wants to know why this country is the way it is, needs to read Babbitt.

[@jordandavid2218]

Amen, thanks for watching!

[@jisa39]

The fact that you are drinking a highball in a mug is a travesty

[@jordandavid2218]

My indifference to glassware is troubling indeed. Last night I drank half a bottle of Cabarnet from a plastic iced tea tumbler

[@jordandavid2218]

Mama done raised an uncivilized boar

[@jisa39]

@@jordandavid2218 Stop. Please, stop.