"Dr.

Zhivago" and "Babbitt"

Author(s): Janet Oldham
Source: The English Journal, Vol. 48, No. 5 (May, 1959), pp. 242-246
Published by: National Council of Teachers of English
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/809912
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 Dr. Zhivago and Babbitt
Janet Oldham

When this article went to press, Dr. Zhivago was the leading book on sales,
rental, and library-withdrawal lists. Mrs. Oldham, who teaches in the Madison
Central High School, Richmond, Kentucky, draws an interesting comparison
between the Russian novel and Sinclair Lewis' Babbitt.

fidence in the value of one's own

EAGERNESS to beat the Russians at
anything-education, athletics, opinion.
missiles, moon-shots-has grown in-
Pointing up the Bolshevik aim, an om-
creasingly important to the great
inous and prophetic billboard adver-
American public. With the race to the
tises "mechanical seeders and threshing
moon as yet unresolved, there is one
machines."
event in which our firstness is irrevo-
In Babbitt's world, conformity is al-
cable, and that is in winning the Nobel
Prize for Literature. In 1930, theready established, and it is voluntary
American Sinclair Lewis was awarded conformity, a way of life that free men
have, if not chosen, evolved to. Bab-
the world's most renowned literary
bitt lives in the standard American
prize, exactly twenty-eight years be-
fore Boris Pasternak became the first community in the standard American
Soviet Russian to be so honored. home, furnished in precisely the same
While the awards were made on the way as his neighbor's. He brags of be-
ing the standard American citizen and
basis of total literary output, each man
had written a novel that occasioned his meticulously describes his character as
such:
receiving the prize. These novels, Doc-
tor Zhivago and Babbitt, have things Just as he was an Elk, a Booster, and
in common. a member of the Chamber of Com-

In each of the books the chief pro- merce, just as the priests of the Pres-
byterian Church determined his every
tagonist is not a person but a society:
religious belief and the senators who
middle-class urban America in Babbitt,
controlled the Republican Party de-
Mother Russia in Doctor Zhivago. So- cided in little smoky rooms in Wash-
ciety in each is criticized and con- ington what he should think about
demned, yet with love and devotion. disarmament, tariff, and Germany, so
Both authors denounce conformity as did the large national advertisers fix
the curse of their societies. Pasternak the surface of his life.

castigates the Bolsheviks for depriving

Even thinking and speaking are stand-
men of their freedom, for attempting ardized in this cross-section of Amer-
to shape men into automatons: ica:
People had to be cured, by every Which of them said which has never
means of terrorism, of the habit of
been determined, and does not matter,
thinking and judging for themselves.
since they all had the same ideas and
The main misfortune, the root of all expressed them always with the same
the evil to come, was the loss of con- ponderous and brassy assurance.
242

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 DR. ZHIVAGO AND BABBITT 243

of "Success"to
Babbitt once attempted and comfort?
break Has from
stand-
the mold, but found his
ardization, search
Pasternak's dreadedfor
end-
himself perilous and frustrating.
product of the Russian Revolution,He
put
could determine neither what he an end to these values in American
life? in
wanted nor how to obtain it. Only
conforming could he find security, Nature is insignificant to Babbitt:
comradeship, and a measure of happi-
once "he perceived the summer night,
ness. Why would a man who is a smelled
"Suc- the wet grass"; another time he
cess" choose the lonely, dark road to a garden party, where his fel-
attended
freedom? Both authors imply that if
low realtors picked the flowers, talked
man's life is to have meaning he Pep,
mustboosted and boasted, and left the
not compromise with society. garden a shambles with their litter. In
Lewis bewails not only conformity
Doctor Zhivago nature is an integral
but others of man's besetting sins:
partthe
of the story, a reason for its con-
primary desire for attention and ap- almost joyous tone.
fident,
proval, social ambition, lack of culture,
Orioles kept making their clear three-
insincerity and pose, worship of little
note calls, stopping each time just
gods-Success, Personality, Vision,
long enough to let the countryside
Good Citizenship, Bigness. Man,suck
as in the moist fluting sounds down
created by Lewis, is a very little crea-
to the last vibration.
ture, producing a society that is hope-
The night was over. Streaks of light
lessly sick; and that is everything there
probed from room to room and dived
is in Lewis' world. Pasternak accepts
under the chairs and tables like thieves
man's smallness in a great universe
or appraisers.
moving inexorably through history.
History evolves purposefully, regard-
Storm clouds gather as the revolution
less of man. Men are caught in its
progressses; sweet linden blossoms scent
sweep, and the conformists movethe
on,air as the war comes to an end; a
as those who cannot adjust arefull
de-moon beams on Yurii's homecom-
stroyed. ing; it is spring when he first meets
With the broader backdrop in Doc- Lara. Nature is more than background;
tor Zhivago there is deeper meaning it is a powerful influence on characters
than in Babbitt. There is reason for so- and action:
cial decadence: it is a necessary pre- At such moments he felt as if he too
liminary to a needed change in the so-
were being pierced by shafts of light.
cial order. Individuals must accept suf-
It was as though the gift of the living
fering and sacrifice that life may pro- spirit were streaming into his breast,
gress. Life is wonderful, a joyous gift. piercing his being and coming out at
All life is one, man a part of nature. his shoulders like a pair of wings.
As man gives of himself he becomes a
The winter evening was alive with
part of the life stream. Love is the su-
sympathy, like a friendly witness. It
preme virtue. And always man must was as if there had never been a dusk
be free to make his unique contribu- before and night were falling now
tion to life. for the first time in order to console
Nature, love, joy-have they gone him in his loneliness and bereavement;
out of Babbitt's world with the coming as if the valley were not always girded

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244 THE ENGLISH JOURNAL

by a panorama of with
wooded hills
a clean, almost good, on
feeling not
the horizon but the trees had only
gained from Lewis' book. Babbitt of-
taken up their places
fers now, rising out
no inspiration.
of the ground in order to comfort
Plot and Characterization
him with their presence.
Babbitt, in his search for
In each novelfreedom,
plot is subservient to
tried the woods, but the was
promulgation
non-percep-
of ideas. Lewis cre-
tive of its gifts as ates
heopportunities
sought tohuman comment on all
companionship. Bred facets
byof urban life, including church
conformity,
human companionship and Sunday school and
is the revival speak-
paragon
of affection in Babbitt. WithinBabbitt's
ers, corruption business and govern-
ment, prohibition,
friends there is a jolly, business men's or-
cliche-ridden
camaraderie, valuableganizations,
to him andas a mark
recreation. Often he
of his acceptance. Atgetsone
so carried
time away hewith tries
his vilifica-
tion that he
to communicate a feeling toseems
his to forget
closesthe is telling
friend, but "the shame of emotion
a story. He recounts at length Babbitt's
typical mental
overpowered them; they cursed reactions and freely in-
a little,
to prove they were jectsgood roughIn fel-
his own comments. much the
lows." Babbitt's wife isway
same a companion to as a
Pasternak uses his novel
him; between them exists medium for an expressing his views on
unfeeling,
rather comfortable endurance. He philosophy, art, the revolution, Jews,
creative writing, Pushkin's poetry. In
prattles of his love for his daughter,
Tinka, but this love is not shown chapter
in nine he neglects his story to
give us pages of ideas from a notebook.
the book. Family scenes are marked by
bickering in "the greatest of greatYurii is sent to various places in Russia
wars, which is the family war." and pictured at critical times in history
By contrast, Yurii's home "had in
anorder to serve as a mouthpiece for
the author's views on those places and
aura of poetry and was permeated with
love and warmth." In the novels, the times. Still there is enough story to
Russian is the more sensitive man; maintain
he interest, with perhaps too
much
has feelings and is not ashamed to show contrivance, e.g., Lara's happen-
them. He loves his friends, his wife,ing on her arrival from Mongolia to
his children. Even the mass-madness find herself in the same room in Mos-
of Bolshevism is a sublimation of this
cow where Yurii is lying in his coffin.
love and devotion. Neither book aims at creating well-
rounded characters. Perhaps in Bab-
Joy, too, is missing in Babbitt. Here,
bitt's world the well-rounded charac-
where all are well-fed, warm, and free,
why does Lewis find no happy people? ter is obsolete. Babbitt, of course, is
the typical American business man of
In Doctor Zhivago, despite all the hor-
rors, Yurii finds joy in life itself,the
in twenties, as his wife is the typical
middle-class wife. Minor characters in-
work, in love, in nature. In spite of the
clude the standard banker, minister,
senseless bloodshed, the heartlessness
of the Bolsheviks, the desperate situa- writer, choir director, and more
slick
tions of the characters, the generaland less rowdy neighbors. If there is
individuality in any, it is so buried
tone of Doctor Zhivago is hopeful and
confident. The reader leaves the book beneath the layers of sham as to be un-

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 DR. ZHIVAGO AND BABBITT 245

recognizable. Lewis' There is much more symbolism

implication isin that
America has ceased to
the book. produce
The story opens at the fun- the
well-rounded man; rather, she
eral of a lovely lady, is the
probably breed-
old
ing types. Russia of the bourgeois. It ends with
Pasternak's people are shadow men the appearance of Tania, daughter of
and women, symbols rather than flesh- Lara and Yurii, who knew neither of
her parents and is happily serving in
and-blood people. Yurii is the intellec-
tual. At first he approves the revolu- the Russian army. Pasternak's symbol-
tion, anticipates two or three years ofism contributes to the deeper meaning
discomfort while it is being enacted, of his book, as contrasted with Lewis'.
expects its success without his partak- Symbolism in Doctor Zhivago, sat-
ing in it. We cannot sympathize with ire in Babbitt are the important tech-
him as he sits back and lets it destroyniques. Technical differences are re-
him. We feel that if the intellectuals lated to the different purposes of the
had used their power, the result would authors. Lewis needs to be pellucid to
have been less disastrous. reach the degenerate American mind.
He hammers and rehammers and ex-
These men [the Bolsheviks] haven't
aggerates his dire pictures, hoping the
any real capacities, they are incompe-
targets of his satire will recognize their
tent . . . Unfortunately, it was the
small fry who set the tone, not the folly and reform. Pasternak supposed-
decent people. ly must be more subtle in his attempt
to teach his government the impor-
And we must not condemn Yurii and
tance of freedom. Consequently Lew-
his peers for their failure to intervene, is' style verges on being monotonous
for it is Fate, the sweep of history,with his accumulation of facts and
moving, over which man has no con- overuse of words and ideas in series,
trol.
his lack of subtlety and imagination.
Lara, Yurii's love, is symbolic of Pasternak's style of writing has more
beauty, of the spiritual. She is sensitive to offer the reader. His periods are sug-
and easily moved to tears; almost every gestive, his imagery exciting, and his
time we meet her, she is crying for joy prose, even in translation, is full of
or despair or seemingly nothing at all. beauty.
Tonia, Yurii's wife, and his children
Reactions To The Awards
symbolize the old life, to which there
is no returning. Evgrof, who always Both authors were thrilled to learn
seems to appear with help when the of their selection by the Nobel Com-
situation is desperate, stands for mate- mittees: Lewis, surprised, humble,
rialism. Nicholai, the uncle and early and grateful; Pasternak, "Immensely
tutor, is religion, upon which Yurii's thankful, touched, proud, astonished,
intellectualism is based. Evil is personi- abashed." Both books were highly ac-
fied by Komarovsky, who destroys claimed, Babbitt being translated into
Yurii's father, violates Lara, and later thirteen different languages, Doctor
separates the lovers. Pasha is the honest Zhivago into eighteen, one of which,
man of action, who forsakes his loved significantly, is not Russian.
family for his duty and eventually kills Unfortunately both prize-winners
himself in disillusionment. met scorn in their own countries. The

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246 THE ENGLISH JOURNAL

Soviet found Pasternak's prize "because

cry hisfor
sharp free-
criticism of
dom, as well as hisAmerican life cateredof
portrayal to the dislike,
the
revolutionary character, distrust, and unpalatable.
envy which most Euro-
News of the award was peans feel toward the United
suppressed States."
for
two days, and thenThe Nobel Committee
both was denounced
the author
and the Nobel Committee were de- by many as expressing European con-
nounced. The Moscow Literary Ga- tempt for American nouveau riche and
zette called the book an "evil-smelling self-assumed superiority, as promoting
lampoon," and the award "a hostile European misconception of American
political act" by "tools of internationallife and character, a misconception
reaction," made "for an artistically strengthened by Lewis' books. As one
squalid, malicious work replete with writer put it, "When the Nobel Prize
hatred of socialism." Komonsol Leader was given to the author of Babbitt,
Semichastny called Pasternak a pig
Europe gave America the worst back-
who "dirties the place where he sleeps handed crack in the jaw she ever got,
and eats, dirties those with whom for he Babbitt is America."
lives and by whose labor he exists." AHostile criticism did not prevent
meeting of 800 "intellectuals" in Mos- Babbitt from becoming a best-seller.
cow demanded unanimously that Past- Perhaps one of Babbitt's traits is the
pleasure he receives from reading of
ernak be stripped of his citizenship and
banished from the country. In his own his neighbor's foibles. Doctor Zhivago
has become a best-seller here, too, with
village, the local writers' colony urged
his banishment, feeling that "We can- the demand not yet met. Its appeal is
not continue to breathe the same air." to those who hate Russia and partially
Radio Moscow broadcast in ten lan- relieve their venom by buying the
guages that Pasternak has no placebook in that is condemned by the Soviet,
Soviet society, a man who "in spirit those who realize that we must learn to
has long been a traitor to his countryunderstand our Russian brothers by
and has now spat in its face." Pravda seizing every opportunity to further
said that this "malevolent Philistine our acquaintance with them, and those
would regret the prize if there were who simply welcome a readable, beau-
a spark of Soviet dignity left in him."
tifully-written novel.
Regret the prize he did, humbly beg- Honored abroad, denounced at
ging forgiveness for the furor he had home, both Lewis and Pasternak aimed
caused. to arouse their beloved countrymen to
Lewis, too, met hostile criticism in
realize their potential, each saying in
his homeland. Critics from Billy Sun- his own way that conformity is the
day to Sherwood Anderson denounced enemy, individuality the way to
Lewis as betraying America, Anderson growth, strength, and the optimum
claiming that Lewis had gotten the human destiny.

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