Babbitt Drugs and Alcohol

For Babbitt, sleeping in is like taking a drug. Why, you ask? Because both sleep and drugs are ways of escaping from a reality that he doesn't want to face.

Babbitt always wonders where happiness and sadness come from. In this case, he feels as if his happiness is coming from alcohol and tobacco. It's not about finding deeper meaning in life. It's about using whatever chemicals you need to make your brain feel good.

Paul Riesling likes cigars just as much as the next man. In fact, he probably likes them even more because he's so miserable. In a situation like Paul's, a person will sometimes use whatever means he can to take his mind off of his problems.

In a heated conversation, a man tells Seneca Doane that he is ultimately not a strong enough liberal. Which is saying something, because the conservative characters in this book practically consider Doane a terrorist. Even in this heated political discussion, though, everything boils down to one man's desire to have a drink.

Babbitt visits an alcohol bootlegger named Hanson in hopes of getting some booze for his party that night. And of course he'll pay whatever price Hanson wants, since Hanson is the only game in town.

It's kind of funny how much Babbitt's view of himself is not backed up by reality. For example, the guy thinks that even though he constantly drinks alcohol, that doesn't make him a capital-d Drinker… because he doesn't own an alcohol-related utensil. This is like someone saying, "I'm not a chocoholic (even though I eat a supersized bag of M&Ms every day) because I don't own a Mexican cocoa-whisk."

As soon as alcohol hits his lips, Babbitt can feel himself craving speed and excitement. He wants to act like he's young and beautiful all of a sudden. Unfortunately, this escape from reality only makes it that much harder for Babbitt to accept the fact that most of his life is pretty boring.

At the social club, one of Babbitt's buddies says that he's worried about prohibition in the United States because he thinks it'll just make people turn to harder drugs like cocaine. After all, you can't expect a huge number of people to suddenly stop wanting to numb their brains.

Everything seems fun at the Babbitts' party as long as there's alcohol floating around. But once the drinks are gone, everyone becomes more guarded about what they say. It's a sad commentary on how people have a tough time opening up to one another without alcohol.

Just like that, the doctor gives Paul Riesling a shot of morphine to help him sleep. Back in 1922, you see, people weren't exactly that well-informed about how addictive and dangerous morphine could be, so they just dished it out like aspirin. Booze, on the other hand, was illegal. Go figure.