Community Reviews
Main Street's little known subtitle is The Story of Carol Kennicott, and like Lewis' books Arrowsmith, Dodsworth, and Babbitt, this novel is a character study of an individual in the Midwest and a variation on his theme of the parochialism of small town, Midwest America.
Lewis works out a lot of his frustration at men who say "You bet!" and phrases such as "Genuwine, honest-to-God homo Americanibus,"Lewis has a brilliant ear for dialogue.
As the young wife of Dr. Will Kennicott from the small town of Gopher Prairie, Minnesota, Carol starts her married life there with lofty ideas of "improving" the town and everyone in it. She literally sketches out new designs for a new library and other town buildings, suggests her reading group spend more than 10 minutes discussing Shakespeare or other great authors, and attempts to direct a play. Carol's idealism is quickly crushed by the realization that she is considered a city snob with condescending attitudes toward the complacent folks of Gopher Prairie. Sinclair Lewis views her as both a heroine for her sympathies toward both individuals who don't fit the mold of Gopher Prairie and are run out of town, toward socialism, and toward cultural sophistication, but also as a naive woman whose conceit in her superiority undermines many of her own efforts.
I suspect that Sinclair Lewis had a wife who turned cold on him; both Carol Kennicott and Fran Dodsworth, wife of Sam Dodsworth in the novel of that title, both retreat from their husbands sexually, though both men are portrayed as kind and patient men who tolerate an awful lot from their wives and whose withdrawal seems selfish.
Carol does become interested in two other men in the story, including the town's most famous native son, Percy Bresnahan, who became a successful auto executive in Detroit. Bresnahan gets Carol's number and confronts her:
"My Lord, to hear you tell it, a fellow'd think that all the denizens, as you impolitely call 'em, are so confoundedly unhappy that it's a wonder they don't all up and commit suicide! But they seem to struggle along somehow!"
"Anybody can endure anything. Look at men in mines and in prisons."
Bresnahan counters that there are tens of thousands of women who talk like she does, "who want to teach their grandmothers how to suck eggs. . . . You're so prejudiced against Gopher Prairie that you overshoot the mar; you antagonize those who might be inclined to agree with you in some particulars but -- Great guns the town an't be all wrong!"
Main Street is overlong, as I found Elmer Gantry, Arrowsmith and Dodsworth, yet Lewis is such a captivating writer, with such a keen eye for dialogue and with exquisite attention to describing the beauties of the countryside, that it's hard to resist continuing reading everything else he has written.
Ultimately, Carol Kennicott is a flawed but sympathetic character, whose husband, Will, deserves an award for his own perseverance and patience with an often complaining and occasionally flirtatious wife.
Lewis works out a lot of his frustration at men who say "You bet!" and phrases such as "Genuwine, honest-to-God homo Americanibus,"Lewis has a brilliant ear for dialogue.
As the young wife of Dr. Will Kennicott from the small town of Gopher Prairie, Minnesota, Carol starts her married life there with lofty ideas of "improving" the town and everyone in it. She literally sketches out new designs for a new library and other town buildings, suggests her reading group spend more than 10 minutes discussing Shakespeare or other great authors, and attempts to direct a play. Carol's idealism is quickly crushed by the realization that she is considered a city snob with condescending attitudes toward the complacent folks of Gopher Prairie. Sinclair Lewis views her as both a heroine for her sympathies toward both individuals who don't fit the mold of Gopher Prairie and are run out of town, toward socialism, and toward cultural sophistication, but also as a naive woman whose conceit in her superiority undermines many of her own efforts.
I suspect that Sinclair Lewis had a wife who turned cold on him; both Carol Kennicott and Fran Dodsworth, wife of Sam Dodsworth in the novel of that title, both retreat from their husbands sexually, though both men are portrayed as kind and patient men who tolerate an awful lot from their wives and whose withdrawal seems selfish.
Carol does become interested in two other men in the story, including the town's most famous native son, Percy Bresnahan, who became a successful auto executive in Detroit. Bresnahan gets Carol's number and confronts her:
"My Lord, to hear you tell it, a fellow'd think that all the denizens, as you impolitely call 'em, are so confoundedly unhappy that it's a wonder they don't all up and commit suicide! But they seem to struggle along somehow!"
"Anybody can endure anything. Look at men in mines and in prisons."
Bresnahan counters that there are tens of thousands of women who talk like she does, "who want to teach their grandmothers how to suck eggs. . . . You're so prejudiced against Gopher Prairie that you overshoot the mar; you antagonize those who might be inclined to agree with you in some particulars but -- Great guns the town an't be all wrong!"
Main Street is overlong, as I found Elmer Gantry, Arrowsmith and Dodsworth, yet Lewis is such a captivating writer, with such a keen eye for dialogue and with exquisite attention to describing the beauties of the countryside, that it's hard to resist continuing reading everything else he has written.
Ultimately, Carol Kennicott is a flawed but sympathetic character, whose husband, Will, deserves an award for his own perseverance and patience with an often complaining and occasionally flirtatious wife.
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