Sinclair Lewis -- the first American to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature -- paints a brilliant portrait of the middle class in the s with his classic sardonic witOn the surface everything is all right with Babbitts world of the solid successful businessman But in reality George F Babbitt is a lonely middle-aged man He doesnt understand his family has an unsuccessful attempt at an affair and is almost financially ruined when he dares to voice sympathy for some striking workers Babbitt finds that his only safety lies deep in the fold of those who play it safe He is a man who has added a new word to our language a Babbitt meaning someone who conforms unthinkingly a sheep
