In an effort to worm his way into McKelvey’s acquaintance, Babbitt pressures him to promise that he and Lucille will come to dinner.

Here in the middle of the novel is the deadly dinner party at which the McKelveys endure the Babbitts and their friends. Nothing much happens, but the party is a terrible failure. This episode, however, is followed by yet another dinner, one the Babbitts are obliged to attend. Another college classmate, who has not fared very well, and his wife host a fete that the Babbitts must submit to. Sandwiched between these two soirees is an account of a third: Zenith’s society columnist pens an affected and fawning report on how the McKelveys have hosted British industrialist Sir Gerald Doak. Although we never hear what the McKelveys have to say after their evening at the Babbitts’, we may be sure that it is rather similar to the remarks that pass between George and Myra following the time they must spend with people whom they regard as their social inferiors.

These central episodes mark a turning point in the main character and the novel. Babbitt, now resolved (in spite of the McKelveys’ rejection) to pursue his own success, spends time with various fraternal orders, booster organizations, and the local church, where the Rev. Dr. Drew preaches a rather muscular and self-serving Christianity. Drew seeks Babbitt’s advice on recruiting new students for the Sunday school. Babbitt ends up on a committee with a friend, “practical poet” Chum Frink, and with Mr. William Washington Eathorne, who as great-grandson of one of Zenith’s founding fathers is far, far above the McKelveys and their “smart set.” Babbitt applies his know-how from real estate advertising to the Sunday school project, selling the school as if it were a property and promoting it as if it were a new product. He also applies many of the techniques of business management—such as competition and hierarchical status—to Bible study classes. Eathorne, who receives Babbitt at his mansion, is pleased. Babbitt hires an idealistic reporter to help with public relations for the church school. The reporter ends up courting Babbitt’s daughter, and Babbitt looks on, somewhat enviously, as his son Ted spends time with Eunice Littlefield, the flapper next door.

The day-to-day operations of the real estate agency begin to sicken Babbitt. A trip to Chicago with Ted seems to bring father and son closer together, but in the big city, Babbitt feels lonely. Eventually, in Chicago, he runs into one of the titled gentry whom the McKelveys have entertained, the tired, old Sir Gerald Doak. They drink together and find that they have much in common. Hardly a member of the international set, Sir Gerald subscribes to the same organizations as Babbitt and describes the supposedly sophisticated Lucille McKelvey as a pretentious blabbermouth. The exhilaration of this out-of-town encounter is eclipsed when, the following evening, Babbitt runs into Paul Riesling in the company of a woman friend. He tries to “talk some sense” into Paul, whose unhappy marriage has led him into adultery, but Paul refuses to give up his new lady friend. In a matter of weeks, he and Zilla quarrel. Paul shoots but does not kill Zilla and ends up in jail.

Amid these events, Myra goes east to visit relatives, and for the first time since their marriage, George is left on his own. In this atmosphere of sudden freedom, suddenly bereft of his best friend, Babbitt feels a gnawing loneliness. He toys with the idea of becoming more friendly with his secretary, but she is uninterested in him. He flirts with a manicurist, whose teasing ultimately puts him off. The disreputable people across the street, Eddie and Louetta Swanson, invite him for drinks, and in his drunkenness he makes a pass at Louetta. Eventually, he shows an apartment to an attractive, artsy widow, a Mrs. Tanis Judique, by whom he is quickly captivated.