Babbitt by Christopher Ward (1922)

Name: Babbitt
Author: Christopher Ward

George F. Babbitt delivers an after-dinner speech titled "American Literature" at a testimonial banquet given in his honor by the Boosters Club of Zenith, celebrating the publication of a novel called "Babbitt" about him. He opens by praising the book's author as a modern, successful writer who sells hundreds of thousands of copies, comparing this output favorably to the mass production of condensed milk and pasteboard cartons in Zenith's factories. Babbitt then contrasts this commercial success with the hard lot of earlier American writers such as James J. Whittier, Edwin A. Poe, and William Wordsworth Longfellow, who, he says, sold their work for a pittance and lived in garrets, unlike modern authors with bank accounts, bungalows, and automobiles. He attributes their poverty to writing about subjects Zenith does not care for, arguing that readers want stories about business, home life, and the "romance" of real-estate deals between sharp-witted realtors rather than tales of knights in armor or illicit romances with countesses. He praises modern comforts such as sanitary bathroom plumbing as marks of civilization, contrasting them with what he calls the unwashed habits of Europe. He declares imagination outdated, insisting that today's successful writers report facts gathered by watching real life rather than inventing stories. He criticizes Washington Irwin's "Rip Van Winkle" as implausible and unfit for a growing boy, citing the drunken husband, the headless horseman, and the decades-long sleep as absurdities, and jokes that Irwin's modern namesake who writes for the Saturday Evening Post would be unrecognizable to him. He claims Poe needed drink to write about ravens and skeletons, and that Whittier, Longfellow, and George Cullen Bryant resorted to opium and other drugs to sustain their imaginative output. Babbitt then recounts how American business rescued literature: businessmen hired skilled writers for advertisements, which became so compelling that readers tore out the ad pages and discarded the fiction, hurting magazine publishers financially. He credits an editor named Cyrus H. K. Bok with saving literature by placing advertisements directly alongside stories, forcing fiction writers to compete with real advertised products like the Ginko Cigar and Hartenheimer's Morestyle Clothing. This competition, he says, pushed writers toward realistic, fact-based "real American" stories, the best of which now appear on pages facing the highest-priced ads in the Saturday Evening Post, a position he calls the proudest in American literature. Turning to the novel written about himself, Babbitt praises it but faults its author for softening realism with euphemism, citing the book's description of "the best of nationally advertised and quantitatively produced alarm clocks" instead of naming a Big Bob directly. To demonstrate true realism, Babbitt rewrites a chapter himself, describing his own morning routine entirely through brand names: a Big Bob alarm clock, Matchless Pajamas, a Downiwool Blanket, an Ostermarsh Mattress, a Flimsibilt Sectional Garage, Shiniwhite Glazed Tiles, a Staykleen Bath Tub, Rubwell toothbrush, Lillidol, Whiskerine, Shavo Cream, a Bristletite Shaving Brush, a Neverkeen Safety Razor, a D. V. undershirt, a Bronx Shirt, a Spear Collar with a Kalisch button, a Hartenheimer Suit, Walkstrate Shoes, a Walgin Watch, a Leakwell Fountain Pen, a Neverpoint Pencil, and a breakfast of Moonshine Orange, Mothers' Wild Oats, Mawruss Ham, two plain eggs, Digesto Bread, Prunella Butter, and Moko-Boko Coffee, finished with a Ginko Cigar. He closes by declaring this method of combining advertising copy with literature to be true, "one hundred per cent" American realism.

By Christopher Ward · First published 1922 · Genre: Satire, Social Criticism, Literary Fiction · 2,712 words

First lines

It was night in Zenith, the night of the grand testimonial banquet tendered to George F. Babbitt, by the Boosters Club, in honor of the publication of the well-known novel entitled "Babbitt. " Mr. Babbitt spoke on "American Literature," in part as follows:

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Genres

Satire — The passage is a biting satirical critique of American materialism and commercialism, with Babbitt unwittingly exposing the degradation of literature and culture through his own speech praising commercial values over artistic merit.
Social Criticism — The work extensively critiques American business culture, consumerism, and the displacement of genuine literary values by commercial advertising and standardized production, making social commentary its core function.
Literary Fiction — Despite its satirical nature, the work functions as serious literary fiction with complex social observation and ironic characterization that engages with broader questions about American culture and literature.
Realism — The novel depicts the realistic details of American life in the 1920s, including actual businesses, products, and social customs, presented in a manner that mirrors authentic contemporary experience.

What this Textopian page supports

Babbitt is listed on Textopian as a short story by Christopher Ward, dated 1922 CE.

This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.

Work type: Short story
Author: Christopher Ward
Date: 1922 CE
Language: English
Genres: Satire, Social Criticism, Literary Fiction, Realism, Domestic Fiction
Length: 2,712 words
Structure: 1 section, 34 paragraphs
Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)

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