# Dr. Leete — Looking Backward character guide > Dr. Leete in Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy. **Role:** major **Also known as:** VI Dr. Leete, Dr. **First appearance:** 0003-ii ## Snapshot The physician who takes a nineteenth-century sleeper into his home and calmly explains how the industrial army replaced want with plenty. ## Who they are Dr. Leete is Julian's host, instructor, and chief apologist for the Boston of 2000, answering each incredulous question with patient, cheerful logic. Where Julian expects defensiveness, Leete offers the confidence of a man who has never known poverty or strikes, discussing women's industrial service and the nation as a fatherland with the same mild reasonableness. His function is to make utopia legible, and his unruffled tone is itself part of the argument. ## Relationships ### [Edith Leete](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/characters/edith_leete) _family_ Dr. Leete is Edith's father, a caring and proud parent who supports her relationship with Julian. ### [Julian West](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/characters/julian_west) _friendship_ Dr. Leete acts as Julian's mentor and friend, explaining the workings of the utopian society to him. ### [Mrs. Leete](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/characters/mrs_leete) _family_ Dr. and Mrs. Leete are a married couple, living together harmoniously in the future society. ### [Sawyer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/characters/sawyer) _professional_ Sawyer is likely a servant or worker in Dr. Leete's household, with a formal employer-employee dynamic. ### [Mr. Barton](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/characters/mr_barton) _social_ Dr. Leete and Mr. Barton are fellow citizens in the utopian society, possibly colleagues or acquaintances. ### [Berrian](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/characters/berrian) _social_ Berrian is a social acquaintance of Dr. Leete, likely part of the same community. ### [Edith Bartlett](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/characters/edith_bartlett) _social_ Dr. Leete knows of Edith Bartlett as Julian's former fiancée, but has no direct relationship with her. ### [Julian West](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/characters/julian_west) _friendship_ Dr. Leete acts as Julian's mentor and friend, explaining the workings of the utopian society to him. ### [Edith Leete](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/characters/edith_leete) _family_ Dr. Leete is Edith's father, a caring and proud parent who supports her relationship with Julian. ### [Julian West](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/characters/julian_west) _friendship_ Dr. Leete acts as Julian's mentor and friend, explaining the workings of the utopian society to him. ### [Edith Leete](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/characters/edith_leete) _family_ Dr. Leete is Edith's father, a caring and proud parent who supports her relationship with Julian. ### [Mr. Barton](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/characters/mr_barton) _social_ Dr. Leete and Mr. Barton are fellow citizens in the utopian society, possibly colleagues or acquaintances. ## In the story ### [Author's Preface](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/author-s-preface) Referenced as the character who provides explanations of modern social institutions to his guest. ### [Chapter III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/iii) The physician who discovered Julian and explains the circumstances of his trance and the new era. ### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/iv) Dr. Leete guides Julian, explains the city's changes, and introduces him to his wife and daughter. ### [Chapter V: The Great Trust and the Evolution of Industry](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/v) Dr. Leete provides a detailed historical account of the consolidation of capital, the role of trusts, and the peaceful evolution to a nationalized economy, emphasizing that the great corporations were a necessary transition phase. ### [Chapter VI: The Industrial Army and the New Social Order](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/vi) Dr. Leete describes the industrial army system, the 24-year service term, Muster Day, and how the nation's assumption of capital solved the labor problem. ### [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/vii) Explains the principles of the industrial army, including voluntary occupation selection, equalization of trade attractiveness, and the absence of wage disputes. ### [VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/viii) Mentioned as having advised not to show too much sympathy initially, and predicted Julian would sleep late. ### [Chapter IX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/ix) Explains the motives behind work in the modern society, emphasizing honor, patriotism, and social distinction over monetary rewards, and defends the principle of equal compensation for equal effort. ### [Chapter XI: Inheritance, Domestic Service, and the Music of the Future](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/xi) Explains inheritance laws, the absence of domestic servants, and the organization of medical care. ### [XII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/xii) Explains the industrial army system, grading, incentives, and the invalid corps; discusses the moral basis for supporting the disabled. ### [Chapter XIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/xiii) Explains international trade, emigration indemnities, and credit card systems; later praises Dickens in the library. ### [Chapter XIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/xiv) Explains the ethics of service, the industrial army's unclassified grade, and contrasts individualism with concert. ### [XV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/xv) Explains the system of publishing, author royalties, and recognition of merit in literature, art, and invention; also discusses the role of newspapers and public opinion. ### [XVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/xvi) Explains that Julian's case has national interest, proposes a historical lectureship for him, and reassures him about finding a place in society. ### [Chapter XVII: The Logic of Production and Distribution](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/xvii) Explains the entire system of production, distribution, pricing, and the role of the President as head of the industrial army. ### [XVIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/xviii) Explains the 20th-century perspective on retirement, leisure, and recreation, contrasting it with 19th-century attitudes. ### [XIX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/xix) Explains the modern view of crime as atavism, the simplified legal system, and the absence of state governments. ### [Education and Physical Culture in the Twentieth Century](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/xxi) Dr. Leete explains the modern educational system, including universal higher education, physical culture, and the three grounds for education. ### [XXII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/xxii) Explains the economic efficiencies of the new system, including elimination of debt, military, crime, and wasteful distribution, and the benefits of cooperation. ### [Chapter XXIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/xxiii) Referenced as having been part of the overheard conversation, where he hesitated to promise Edith not to tell Julian. ### [XXIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/xxiv) Dr. Leete reads the 1887 newspaper aloud and explains the subsidization of anarchists and the rise of the national party. ### [XXV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/xxv) Explains the modern system of women's work, marriage for love, and the principle of sexual selection. ### [Chapter XXVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/xxvi) Delivers a lengthy discourse on the moral and social revolution, comparing old society to a rosebush in a swamp and the Black Hole of Calcutta. ### [Chapter XXVII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/xxvii) Consents to Julian and Edith's engagement, acknowledging the extraordinary circumstances. ### [Endnotes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/endnotes) Referenced as having warned Julian about the amusement of 20th-century youth regarding 19th-century courtship. ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/characters/dr_leete - Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se - All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/characters