My Opinion

I liked Babbitt because although it was realistic, it was a satire. In Babbitt, Sinclair starts out exposing hypocrisy through jokes; however, by the end he shows the negative implications of the hypocrisy. One example of this is when the Good Citizens' League burns down the Zenith Socialist Headquarters and beats their staff. Babbitt is also facing the same challenges that many people, including myself, face today. He is searching for happiness and trying to decide whether to conform to a standardized society. There are also many similarities between the beliefs of the 1920s and current beliefs. In the 1920s, soon after World War I, Americans supported an increasingly conservative culture, demonstrated by Harding defeating Woodrow Wilson in the 1920 election promising to "return to normalcy". Currently, especially after 9/11, America has become more conservative such as the passing of the USA PATRIOT act, which included 2 anti-terrorism bills, just 45 days after the attacks.