Streamline Modernism Seen in B
Throughout the centuries, architecture and interior design have changed drastically. Design centers, such as Paris, London, and Italy, have all had their share of input, and each has its own unique styles which have been preserved over time. America is one of the few countries in the world where design has come together from all of these centers to create a 'melting pot' of designs. Indeed, America has no one style that she can claim as her own. After World War I, Americans experienced a surge of industrialization, which was reflected in new designs of furniture and architecture. Throughout Babbitt, Sinclair Lewis describes the average home in America during the early part of the 1900's as being simple, modern, and identical. Modern art and design were just entering the American scene when Babbitt was written. Streamline Moderne was both a reaction to Art Deco (born in Paris, France) and a reflection of austere economic times. Gone was unnecessary ornament or, in many cases, any ornament. Sharp angles were replaced with simple curves, and exotic woods and stone were often replaced with ordinary cement and glass. Products of modern design included both individually crafted luxury items and mass-produced wares, or, as des
In the very beginning of the novel, Lewis describes Babbitt's house in great detail, from the new alarm clock sitting by his bed, "...with all modern attachments, including cathedral chime, intermittent alarm, and phosphorescent dial," to the bathtub "long enough for a Prussian Guard" and the soap dish, toothbrush holder, etc. "...so glittering and so ingenious that they resembled an electrical instrument board." In the second chapter, Lewis describes the color scheme in the bedroom and its "cubic contents" (referring to the style of the furniture, which was representative of the commonplace styles of the time). He describes it as being "...a masterpiece among bedrooms, right out of Cheerful Modern Houses for Medium Incomes," and that "every second house in Floral Heights had a bedroom precisely like this." These different devices and amenities are representative of the industrialization at the time, as electric vacuums and lamps, for example, were replacing now 'out-of-date' devices, such as candles and brooms. Yet, one must stop to ponder the question, doesn't all of this, in excess and clutter, revert back to the traditional styles from which he was trying to escape? The basis Streamline Moderne and Art Deco were simplicity and minimalism. Babbitt "yearns for a Dictaphone, for a typewriter which would add and multiply..."; he longs to own a frivolous electric cigar lighter for his car, (which he winds up purchasing and flaunts to his colleagues and clients); even his clothes become a petty yet important fixation to him: "...he touched his scarf, and thought well of
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Approximate Word count = 1068
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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