72). In this context, what is deemed significant is engendered in the masculine: Frink’s ad copy is “‘real he-literature’ ” (p. 109); Babbitt sees himself as “‘an old he-one’ ” (p. 132); in Maine he dons “‘he-togs’ ” (p. 135); the ideal Zenith citizen is the “‘Real He-man’ ” (p. 166); the Sunday School journals give Babbitt the sense of “‘a real he-world’ ” (p. 191); and a congressman’s report to the Boosters is deemed “‘real he-stuff’ ” (p. 329). Babbitt sees Zenith, which was founded “‘by the Fathers’” (p. 169) as home to “‘manly men and womanly women’” (p. 167). His clergyman, Dr. Drew, preaches ” ‘The Manly Man’s religion’” (p.185). Babbitt’s mother asserts that his late father knew “‘what a Real Man he was’” (p. 210), and Ted refers to himself and his father as the “‘Babbitt men’” (p. 218). Several times throughout the book, we hear a manly man described as a ”real guy” (p. 224, 266, 351). The constant pressure to play the role of a man haunts the male characters.

Of course, there is a certain irony to all this. Ted’s brochure for a boxing course-by-mail asks,

CAN YOU PLAY A MAN’S PART?

If you are walking with your mother, sister or best girl and some one passes a slighting remark or uses improper language, won’t you be ashamed if you can’t take her part? Well, can you? (p. 73).

Yet earlier, over lunch, Paul has told Babbitt about how Zilla made a scene while shoving her way into a movie theater. A man in front of her politely asked her why she was pushing him, and Zilla’s reaction was so outrageous that the man was ready to fight Paul, who ignored it all (p. 56); instead of coming to his wife’s rescue in a “manly way,” Paul chooses not to fight. If Paul is less of a man in the cinema lobby, he is also more sensitive and intelligent than his college buddy: Paul plays the violin, talks intelligently, and appears to have figured out long before George just how futile their lives are. Perhaps Babbitt’s friendship with him derives in part from the way Babbitt feels he must take Paul under his wing, like a younger brother, and rescue him. It is under the guise of helping Paul that Babbitt argues with Zilla and then takes Paul to Maine.

Nonetheless, Paul Riesling is the one character for whom Babbitt genuinely appears to care. His attempt to break up Paul’s fling in Chicago is well intentioned; he even backs Paul’s alibi by sending Zilla a postcard from Akron, where Paul has told her he has gone, and then visiting her, trying to get her to be nicer to Paul. When Paul shoots her and is jailed, Babbitt comes to his aid, tells the lawyer that he would be willing to lie on Paul’s behalf, and later visits Zilla to see if she will help reduce Paul’s sentence. (As another wonderful irony, Zilla has converted to an unforgiving sect of evangelicals.) Perhaps the most tender moment in the book comes when George puts his arm around his son’s shoulders and wishes “that Paul Riesling had a daughter, so that Ted might marry her” (p. 177).