George F. Babbitt Timeline and Summary

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• When we first meet George Babbitt, everything looks pretty good. He has a good income and a nice house in the suburbs. His family can be ungrateful, but hey, that's life.
• Babbitt starts to show his dissatisfaction with his "good" life when he dreams about a fairy girl who makes him feel loved in ways real life never can.
• Babbitt confides in his best friend, Paul Riesling, about his dissatisfaction, but Paul isn't surprised in the least. In fact, he's even more dissatisfied than Babbitt is.
• Babbitt and Paul take a trip to Maine to get away from it all. For a while, it seems like the trip has worked. Babbitt returns to life and builds a reputation for himself as a good public speaker. He rises even higher in his city's social circles.
• Babbitt's life takes a big blow, though, when he learns that Paul Riesling is going to jail for shooting his wife, Zilla. The loss of Paul makes Babbitt feel as though life is meaningless.
• With Paul gone, Babbitt starts to drink more heavily than before. He even becomes more liberal in his political views, which quickly earns him the reputation of "crank" at his local clubs.
• When his wife, Myra, goes away to visit relatives, Babbitt flirts with younger women and eventually has an affair with a woman named Tanis Judique. Not only that, he starts hanging out with Tanis' younger, drunken friends more than his old crew at the social clubs.
• As his drinking and womanizing get worse, Babbitt gets confronted by some of his old friends about the way his life is heading. He doesn't listen to them, though.
• It's not until Babbitt's business starts suffering that he worries about the effects of his actions. But he still refuses to be bullied by society into doing what everyone else wants him to.
• Babbitt finally cracks when Myra goes to the hospital for emergency surgery. The possibility that she might die makes Babbitt ashamed of the way he has treated her recently. He vows to go back to being his old, respectable self if she pulls through. And she does.
• His friends and business allies quickly rally back to his side, and Babbitt resumes his old suburban life. He still hopes that someday though, after retiring, he'll truly be free.
• When he finds out that his son Ted has run off and gotten married in the middle of the night, Babbitt supports the boy. The rest of the neighborhood might call Ted irresponsible, but Babbitt finds hope in the idea that Ted will learn to be his own man.