Sinclair Lewis struggled greatly throughout his lifetime. It all began when he was growing up; Lewis was looked down upon for his choice of interest in literature. The men in his life, father and brother, were both of high status in the medical field. Sinclair was not athletic, and instead was lonely and had trouble making friends; the opposite of the ideal child. Therefore, due to choosing an occupation that is less pristine than a physician and being a pariah with others his age, he was seen as an outcast. Later on in his life, Sinclair underwent a serious alcoholic binge that could have caused death (Encyclopedia of World Biography, 1). Altogether, this enabled his writing to flourish. Due to the difficult life that Lewis faced, he saw the world and those who inhabit it in a different light than the average human and was able to criticize basic social actions to improve…show more content… Babbitt, as to most prosperous citizens of Zenith. His motor car was poetry and tragedy, love and heroism” (Babbitt, 22). In the novel, Babbitt, this quote represents the idea that every person loves their car to a wild extent. The words “poetry, tragedy, love, and heroism” portray the idea that Babbitt’s automobile is very important to him. The author uses diction to show the character’s affection for his car. “Babbitt attaches fantasized notions of poetry, tragedy, love, and heroism to a material possession because his life actually lacks all these characteristics” (SparkNote on Babbitt, 1). In order to depict satire of American life Lewis entertains the idea of the middle class fascination of material objects. The average person works in order to purchase the new items on the market and to promote their own self-worth. Sinclair ridicules the idea that Americans love material objects more than anything else by using this statement from the novel. This quote is an ironic insight of the value placed on material objects in the capitalist society (Babbitt: Top Ten Quotes,