# Babbitt — Character guide

> Key figures in Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis.

- [George F. Babbitt](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters/george_f_babbitt.md): Babbitt is a booster, a Rotarian, a man whose house is a masterpiece of standardized comfort and whose dreams keep escaping toward a fairy child he can never name. When he refuses to join the Good Citizens' League, the c
- [Myra Babbitt](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters/myra_babbitt.md): Myra runs the household, manages the towels, absorbs her husband's headaches and moods, and has long since stopped worrying about being seen in bulgy corsets. She is a good woman and a sexless one in Babbitt's eyes, a fi
- [Paul Riesling](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters/paul_riesling.md): Paul is the one person Babbitt can talk to without performing, and their yearly escapes together are the closest thing either man has to joy. Trapped with the shrewish Zilla, he drifts into a furtive affair with a flabby
- [Theodore Roosevelt Babbitt](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters/ted_babbitt.md): Ted builds racers out of tin and pine, roars off on his motorcycle with Eunice perched on the rumble seat, and tells anyone who'll listen that his father doesn't know there's any fun left in the world. Yet on a Pullman t
- [Verona Babbitt](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters/verona_babbitt.md): Verona reads irregular poetry, holds forth on evolution and Kenneth Escott, and cannot decide what she wants, which Babbitt takes as a personal affront. Her earnestness and her stalled romance with the highbrow Escott ex
- [Tinka Babbitt](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters/tinka_babbitt.md): George's youngest child, a sweet and affectionate little girl.
- [Zilla Riesling](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters/zilla_riesling.md): Zilla is the domestic weather Paul cannot escape, a woman whose complaints have become the texture of their marriage and whose presence explains why Paul clings to Babbitt's friendship like a lifeline. She is not a villa
- [Tanis Judique](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters/tanis_judique.md): Tanis Judique enters Babbitt's life as the sympathetic, faintly bohemian woman who seems to understand the restless man Myra no longer reaches. She is patient and strategic in her loneliness: a note on refined stationery
- [Chum Frink](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters/chum_frink.md): Frink belongs to Babbitt's club-and-Booster world, one of the men whose approval Babbitt measures himself against at the Roughnecks' Table. He is a professional optimist, a versifier whose rhymes and advertising jingles 
- [Virgil Gunch](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters/virgil_gunch.md): Gunch is Babbitt's fellow Roughneck and Athletic Club crony, a backslapping man whose opinions arrive with the force of a sales pitch. When Babbitt balks at joining the Good Citizens' League, Gunch's cold shoulder become
- [Howard Littlefield](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters/howard_littlefield.md): Dr. Howard Littlefield is the Floral Heights neighbor whose bottomless fund of facts makes him the neighborhood oracle and a fixture at the Babbitt dinner table. He is pompous, humorless, and utterly confident in the rec
- [Seneca Doane](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters/seneca_doane.md): Seneca Doane was once Babbitt's classmate and a promising corporation counsel before he turned to farmer-labor tickets and socialist friends, and Zenith's boosters now cite him as a cautionary example. Meeting him on the
- [Stanley Graff](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters/stanley_graff.md): A young, ambitious salesman in Babbitt's real estate office.
- [Louetta Swanson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters/louetta_swanson.md): A flirtatious society woman and friend of the Babbitts.
- [Eddie Swanson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters/eddie_swanson.md): Louetta's husband, a car salesman and Babbitt's acquaintance.
- [Sir Gerald Doak](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters/sir_gerald_doak.md): An English visitor to Zenith who befriends Babbitt during his rebellious period.
- [Kenneth Escott](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters/kenneth_escott.md): Ken Escott is the young journalist who has attached himself to Verona, and to Ted and Babbitt he is a puzzle: a nice enough lad who smokes too much and cannot seem to get to the point. He belongs to the earnest, bookish 
- [Theresa McGoun](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters/miss_theresa_mcgoun.md): Babbitt's efficient and loyal secretary at the real estate office.
- [Charley McKelvey](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters/charley_mckelvey.md): A wealthy contractor and social climber in Zenith's elite circle.
- [Verg Gunch](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters/verg_gunch.md): A variant name for Virgil Gunch, used in club contexts.
- [Dr. A. I. Dilling](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters/dr_a_i_dilling.md): A physician and member of Babbitt's social set.
- [William Washington Eathorne](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters/william_washington_eathorne.md): An elderly, conservative banker and pillar of Zenith society.
- [Carrie Nork](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters/carrie_nork.md): A friend of Myra Babbitt, part of the women's social circle.
- [Rev. Dr. John Jennison Drew](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters/rev_dr_john_jennison_drew.md): The pastor of Babbitt's church, a popular and conventional preacher.
- [Orville Jones](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters/orville_jones.md): A fellow member of the Boosters' Club and Babbitt's acquaintance.
- [Sidney Finkelstein](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters/sidney_finkelstein.md): A Jewish tailor and member of the Boosters' Club.
- [Henry T. Thompson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters/henry_t_thompson.md): Myra's father and Babbitt's former business partner.
- [Joe Paradise](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters/joe_paradise.md): A guide at the Maine camp where Babbitt vacations with Paul.
- [Sheldon Smeeth](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters/sheldon_smeeth.md): A pious young man active in the church and Sunday school.
- [Professor Joseph K. Pumphrey](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters/professor_joseph_k_pumphrey.md): A pompous elocution teacher and member of the Boosters.
- [Pete Menutti](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters/pete_menutti.md): A young man in Babbitt's office, later involved in a scandal.
- [Ida Putiak](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters/ida_putiak.md): A manicurist at the hotel where Babbitt briefly flirts with her.
- [Jake Offutt](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters/jake_offutt.md): A shady political fixer and acquaintance of Babbitt.
- [Cecil Rountree](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters/cecil_rountree.md): A young architect and member of the progressive set.
- [Clarence Drum](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters/clarence_drum.md): A police captain and member of the Boosters' Club.
- [Colonel Rutherford Snow](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters/colonel_rutherford_snow.md): The elderly owner of the Zenith Advocate-Times newspaper.
- [Conrad Lyte](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters/conrad_lyte.md): A real estate client and fellow church member of Babbitt.
- [Chester Kirby Laylock](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters/chester_kirby_laylock.md): A young real estate salesman in Babbitt's office.
- [Dr. Earl Patten](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters/dr_earl_patten.md): A physician and friend of Babbitt's social circle.
- [Willis Ijams](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters/willis_ijams.md): President of the Boosters' Club and a local businessman.
- [Archibald Purdy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters/archibald_purdy.md): A fellow church member and acquaintance of Babbitt.
- [Max Kruger](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters/max_kruger.md): A businessman and member of the Boosters' Club.
- [Beecher Ingram](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters/beecher_ingram.md): A young man who commits suicide, shocking the community.
- [Sam Doppelbrau](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters/sam_doppelbrau.md): A brewer and member of Babbitt's social circle.
- [Fulton Bemis](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters/fulton_bemis.md): A wealthy eccentric and member of the elite set.
- [Wilberta Bannigan](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters/miss_wilberta_bannigan.md): A stenographer in Babbitt's office.
- [Elbert Wing](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters/elbert_wing.md): A young lawyer and friend of Kenneth Escott.
- [Lucas Prout](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters/lucas_prout.md): A politician and candidate for mayor of Zenith.
- [Chan Mott](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters/chan_mott.md): A young man in Babbitt's social circle.
- [Miriam Sassburger](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters/miriam_sassburger.md): A society woman and acquaintance of the Babbitts.
- [Sylvester Moon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters/sylvester_moon.md): A young man in Babbitt's social orbit.
- [Horace Updike](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters/horace_updike.md): An architect and member of the elite set.
- [May Arnold](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters/may_arnold.md): A society woman and acquaintance of the Babbitts.

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/babbitt_se/characters