In American literature and popular culture, the character and behaviors of George F. Babbitt became established as negative archetypes of person and personality; a Babbitt is “a materialistic and complacent businessman conforming to the standards of his [social] set” and Babbittry is the “Philistine behaviour of a Babbitt”.[29] Examples include C. E. M. Joad's 1927 book The Babbitt Warren, a scathing critique of American society,[30] and Vachel Lindsay's 1922 poem "The Babbitt Jambouree."[22] Elizabeth Stevenson referenced the character in the title of her popular history of the 1920s, Babbitts and Bohemians: From the Great War to the Great Depression.[31]
Bilbo Baggins, the main character in J. R. R. Tolkien's novel The Hobbit was partly inspired by Babbitt, as was the title of the book itself. Bilbo and hobbits in general are known for being most comfortable at home, uninterested in adventure, and primarily concerned with the accumulation of food and possessions.[32][33][34] Other fictional influences are found in Aldous Huxley's Eyeless in Gaza and Saul Bellow's Humboldt's Gift. In both novels, one character compares another character to George Babbitt, contrasting their aspirational qualities with their ultimate complacency. The novel is one of the inspirations of the novel Rabbit, Run (the protagonist of which is also a complacent and unfulfilled businessman) and its sequels by John Updike.[35]
