Summary and Analysis of It Can't Happen Here: Based on the Book by Sinclair Lewis
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Summary and Analysis of It Can't Happen Here: Based on the Book by Sinclair Lewis
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This short summary and analysis of It Can’t Happen Here includes:
- Historical context
- Chapter-by-chapter overviews
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- Detailed timeline of key events
- Themes and symbols
- Important quotes and analysis
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- Supporting material to enhance your understanding of the original work
About It Can’t Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis:
Sinclair Lewis’s satirical novel It Can’t Happen Here documents the rise of a fascist government in the United States.
It follows a small town newspaper editor, Doremus Jessup, as he watches his country come out of economic depression only to embrace a smoke-and-mirrors presidential candidate who wraps himself in patriotic zeal. This charismatic demagogue and his cronies amass power and wealth as the rest of the population watches its rights and freedoms disappear.
There is censorship, the random violence of an unchecked paramilitary force, and the emergence of concentration camps. Jews, foreigners, and intellectuals are singled out for especially brutal treatment. Universities are taken over and books are burned.
As he watches the devastating toll exacted from his friends and family, the once easygoing Jessup is swept into an underground resistance movement in which he must ignore his moral compass. A revolution is launched, but the outcome is uncertain.
Lewis’s dystopian work asks: could it happen here and, if it does, how would it be stopped?
The summary and analysis in this ebook are intended to complement your reading experience and bring you closer to a great work of fiction.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781504044943 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Worth Books |
| Publication date: | 04/11/2017 |
| Series: | Smart Summaries |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 30 |
| Sales rank: | 556,025 |
| File size: | 2 MB |
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Summary and Analysis of It Can't Happen Here
Based on the Book by Sinclair Lewis
By Worth Books
OPEN ROAD INTEGRATED MEDIA
Copyright © 2017 Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-5040-4494-3
CHAPTER 1
Summary
Chapter 1
At the Ladies' Night Dinner of the Fort Beulah Rotary Club, patriotic presentations foreshadow a change in the political climate. The dinner takes place in the town's fanciest hotel. The speeches by General Edgeways and Mrs. Adelaide Tarr Grimmitch are the most alarming due to their populist and conservative messages. Doremus Jessup, the editor of Fort Beulah's newspaper, and Lorinda Pike, the widow of the Unitarian minister and owner of the local boarding house, are the most outspoken about their opposition.
Need to Know: This chapter introduces the characters in the book as well as the themes that will dominate the upcoming presidential campaign: "Peace through Defense," anti-communism, anti-Semitism, distrust of foreigners and foreign governments, distrust of freedom of speech, and a backlash against women's rights.
Chapter 2
Following the Rotarian dinner, Doremus joins several other Beulah Valley civic leaders — the miller Medary Cole, the school superintendent Emil Staubmeyer, the banker R. C. Crowley, and the Episcopal minister Reverend Falck — for drinks at a gathering hosted by Francis Tasbrough, Doremus's old classmate and now the wealthy owner of the local granite quarries. Doremus warns that the country's growing discontent could lead to tyranny if populist Berzelius "Buzz" Windrip makes headway in the presidential race — and he has a very strong chance of doing so. The other men accuse him of exaggeration, claiming, "It can't happen here!" But Doremus and the Reverend Falck aren't so sure.
Need to Know: During the Great Depression, a time of widespread disillusionment, people of all classes and conditions too-readily buy into easy fixes for their problems.
Chapter 3
Doremus receives an unexpected letter from Victor Loveland, a classics professor at Isaiah College, which counts the newspaper editor among its alumni. Francis Tasbrough and other members of the school's board of trustees have voted to expel any student or faculty member who publicly or privately criticizes military training (which has been stepped up at the school) by any local, state, or national organization. Even more, students who snitch on those critics will receive extra credit toward graduation.
Need to Know: The door is starting to open on militarization of the educational system, combined with a strategy to encourage citizens to spy on other citizens. The chapter foreshadows more powerful attacks ahead on scholars and schools.
Chapter 4
The presidential election is just six weeks away. It is clear that Franklin D. Roosevelt and other traditional politicians stand little chance of winning their party's nomination. The Democratic candidate is almost certain to be the charismatic Buzz Windrip, whose conflicting promises ensure there is something for everyone to celebrate, and who has the support of his "satanic secretary," Lee Sarason. While Windrip is the face of the operation, Sarason is the brain. For their part, the Republicans will put forward Senator Walt Trowbridge, a bulky and complacent man who is honest and pragmatic but uninspiring.
Need to Know: The disenchanted populace is looking for an exhilarating message. Whoever can deliver it — whether his claims and promises are true or not — is likely to win voter support.
Chapter 5
Doremus, his family, and his friends James Buck Titus and Lorinda Pike head off to a Saturday picnic on the mountain slopes that bank Beulah Valley. Their idyllic afternoon is shattered by the weekly address of the powerful radio preacher, the Reverend Paul Peter Prang. Prang throws his endorsement — and the support of his millions of listeners — behind Windrip's candidacy. Jessup is chilled, fearing a Windrip victory.
Need to Know: Politics and religion are becoming intertwined. With the co-optation — and even willing participation — of religious leaders like Prang, Windrip's road to the presidency will be easier.
Chapter 6
Doremus's mood at home shifts. He is not a left-wing radical but, rather, a mild and "somewhat sentimental Liberal." However, he does not tolerate injustice, and, when provoked, he can be moved to anger and action. He begins to worry over what will happen if Windrip is elected — and whether there is an alternative strategy that could save the election.
Need to Know: The ideologies of communism and socialism are being bandied about — in Doremus's world and in the United States at the time of Lewis's writing. But these alternatives do not seem tenable, or even useful, responses to the country's needs.
Chapter 7
At their convention, the Republicans nominate Walt Trowbridge as their presidential candidate. The Democrats ballot over and over to pick their presidential candidate. A weary Doremus drops in at the rectory of the local Catholic priest, Father Perefixe, to listen to the party convention over the radio. There, he finds Buck Titus, Doremus's son-in-law Fowler Greenville, the banker Crowley, Louis Rotenstern, and the Reverend Falck. At one point, Windrip reads a letter over the radio stating his position: he's in support of labor, but against strikes; he will raise wages and lower the cost of products made by those same laborers; he is against banking but for bankers (except for Jewish bankers, who will be expelled); and on and on. In other words, his message is attractive and exciting, but entirely unrealistic and deceitful. At dawn Windrip, supported by Reverend Prang's so-called League of Forgotten Men — throngs of unemployed and disenfranchised Americans — wins his party's nomination. Not long after, Doremus runs into his shiftless yet angry handyman, Shad Ledue, who will be voting for Buzz, and the conversation belies how little the two men understand each other.
Need to Know: Doremus feels some sad solidarity with the men at Father Perefixe's gathering, but class and education barriers separate Doremus and Ledue. Neither understands the other's day-to-day experiences.
Chapter 8
Windrip issues his platform, a confusing fifteen-point proclamation that promises something for everyone, much of which is contradictory. The points take rights away from Jews, women, and African Americans, and consolidate the power in the hands of Windrip and his cronies. Windrip positions himself as on the side of the patriotic common people and against the old political machine. But Doremus sees through the patriotic rhetoric for what it is: five men — Windrip, Sarason, Dewey Haik (the congressman who nominated Windrip), Prang, and Hector Macgoblin, a medical professional and journalist — creating a web of propaganda that masks an unabashed power grab.
Need to Know: By cloaking unscrupulous intentions in the mantle of patriotism, power seekers can make the masses overlook their faults. And it does not take a big force to take over a government. Lenin, Mussolini, and Hitler all started their rises to power with small, ambitious gangs.
Chapter 9
Doremus studies Windrip's style and action, befuddled by his natural ability to mesmerize the masses. He seems barely literate, has the appearance of a traveling salesman, is vulgar, lies publicly, and has unsound politics. Doremus concludes that Windrip is an incredible actor. He's been told by political reporters that "under the spell you thought Windrip was Plato, but that on the way home you could not remember anything he had said." Windrip comes off as a professional common man. People can relate to his down-home charm, yet he also has many of the same issues the common man suffers from: insular viewpoints, a fear of the unknown, and an eagerness to protect one's own above all costs.
Need to Know: Author Lewis saw theatrics and oratory skills as powerful drivers of a violent political machine.
Chapter 10
Windrip's economic message resonates among a contradictory band of supporters: from mortgaged farmers to ministers to millionaires. Also jumping on the bandwagon are "Intellectuals and Reformers and even Rugged Individualists, who saw in Windrip, for all his clownish swindlerism, a free vigor which promised a rejuvenation of the crippled and senile capitalistic system." To reach voters and appeal to the masses, Sarason sends Colonel Dewey Haik around the country to speak to the common man — in mines, to chess clubs, to farmers and stamp collectors — making sure that each moment is captured and printed in the papers.
Need to Know: Traumatized by the Depression, the public wants a business recovery. Windrip's energetic call for efficient international commerce holds appeal across classes and experiences.
Chapter 11
The presidential campaign heats up. Republican nominee Walt Trowbridge acknowledges the need for improved distribution of wealth, but eschews the dramatic (and unworkable) solutions of his rival. The various spinoffs of the Communist party announce their party hopefuls. A defiant FDR establishes a break-off faction of Democrats, the new Jeffersonian Party. Doremus finds his readers are rushing to Windrip's side, not because they see him as the savior of everyone but because they expect to individually benefit from his victory. And the greatest of the Windrip cheerleaders seems to be Shad Ledue. Indeed, so sure are Fort Beulah residents of Windrip's promised $5,000 per year for every worker that they take on debt, spending the windfall in advance.
Need to Know: Doremus is astonished by how much he underestimated Windrip's appeal.
Chapter 12
A curious Doremus obtains a ticket to Windrip's campaign finale in New York's Madison Square Garden. Although he fears a Windrip presidency, he, too, finds himself captivated by the candidate's charismatic presence on stage. On election night, a drunken, torch-carrying parade tramps past Doremus's house, and he knows Windrip has won. The following evening, Doremus receives a note threatening him and his family unless he bows to Windrip (whose government will be known as the Corpo) and his followers.
Need to Know: Sweeping oratory and public relations stagecraft can substitute for statecraft. After the election, the threats and intimidation begin immediately.
Chapter 13
Windrip is elected president. Doremus is unable to conjure up a plan of action. He discusses the election with a social democrat and a communist but feels both only favor a different form of oppressive rule. Doremus concludes that "men of superior cunning," whether they are followers of communism, socialism, monarchy, utopias, religion or any other ideology, will also have more influence than "slower-witted men, however worthy."
Need to Know: Doremus believes individualism and democracy are the values that drive a great America, not fascism disguised as fervent patriotism.
Chapter 14
Doremus turns — unsuccessfully — to church to see if he might find respite from his fear about the election results. In particular, he worries about Windrip's conspicuous silence on the issue of press freedom. But the only place he finds reassurance is with his lover, Lorinda Pike. When Doremus finds Shad Ledue outside Lorinda's boarding house, spying on the couple, he fires Ledue. Two weeks later, Ledue, now the secretary for the local chapter of the League of Forgotten Men, demands a donation of $200 for the League. Doremus refuses, and the next day readers of his newspapers begin to cancel their subscriptions. Ledue's rising power in the community is clear.
Need to Know: Regular citizens see their freedoms slowly encroached upon by the new government and the agencies and organizations backing it.
Chapter 15
Leading up to his inauguration, Windrip announces his cabinet: a treasury secretary once indicted on tax fraud charges; a friend and former newspaper editor as secretary of war; Dr. Macgoblin, a surgeon and one of the spinmeisters of the Windrip candidacy, as secretary of education and public relations; and Windrip consigliere Lee Sarason as secretary of state and high marshal of the Minute Men, a paramilitary group with the public face of an innocent marching club. Windrip's political enemies are offered ambassadorships far away (FDR turns down the post of ambassador to Liberia). The inauguration itself is turbulent, and Congress rejects Windrip's immediate demand for a bill giving him complete control of the government. Martial law is declared, and within eight days one hundred Congress members and the Reverend Prang are jailed to be "safeguarded," as are many journalists who criticize the government.
Need to Know: The new government acts quickly to install its regime — and changes — before effective opposition and obstruction can develop.
Chapter 16
Strikes and riots across the country are bloodily suppressed. The most liberal members of the Supreme Court resign. Presidential supporters are rewarded with jobs and contracts, while Congressional investigations are hushed. The country is redrawn as eight "provinces" to reduce the number of governors and better enable Windrip to control the nation. Shad Ledue is named commissioner of the brutal Minute Men in the new county where Doremus lives.
Need to Know: By discarding the old systems, President Windrip is able to redraw government structures and powers to suit his purposes.
Chapter 17
President Windrip announces that all old parties will be eliminated (Democrats, Republicans, Farmer-Labor, the League of Forgotten Men) and replaced with one: The American Corporate State and Patriotic Party — Corpo for short.
Ledue focuses on Beulah Valley as the executive center of the county, taking over the former county courthouse for his private office. The ranks of the Minute Men — made up of veterans, poor farmers, ex-criminals, and young factory employees — have grown to more than half a million men, many of whom are paid well by the new government. Colleges are required to have them on campus; Sarason is the head of the organization.
Need to Know: Widespread militarization and a massive single party militia are part of the fascism playbook.
Chapter 18
At his class reunion at Isaiah College, Doremus learns that Professor Loveland, who had written the letter warning him about the increase of militarization on campus, has been fired for being "too radical," while another professor has been ousted because he is Jewish. Some months later, during the parade of a new company of Minute Men in Fort Beulah, Doremus notices how the smart uniforms and discipline spark a thrill in the crowd. Members of Windrip's cabinet start appearing in minstrel shows they claim are humorous but which, in fact, are racist. While drunk, Macgoblin shoots his former professor, a German biologist, and kills a gentle rabbi. There are no repercussions when he claims both were Jewish, even though that is not true. With the blessing of Lorinda, Doremus writes an editorial about the shootings and other abuses. Lorinda, meanwhile, must appear in court after her useless business partner at the boarding house files a complaint.
Need to Know: Attacks on Jews, blacks, foreigners, working women, and others are part of a systematic effort to rally around the idea of common enemies or scapegoats. Complacency and inaction allow demagogues to deepen their power.
Chapter 19
The Minute Men storm Doremus's newspaper office and take over the facility for the Corpo. Doremus is pulled before a kangaroo court. When Dr. Fowler Greenhill turns up at the court to demand his father-in-law's release, he is summarily executed. Lorinda loses her share of the boarding house in another ruling from the court.
Need to Know: Fascists and dictators use their laws and court systems to maintain control and punish dissidents. Indeed, governments run by strongmen become almost obsessive about crime and punishment, and fascist police forces have almost unlimited power.
Chapter 20
Mary, Fowler Greenhill's widow, now a shadow of her former self, returns with her son David to live with her parents. The government has confiscated her home and savings. Doremus is spared from prison provided that he trains Emil Staubmeyer to use the Informer office to turn out positive stories about the Corpo state. The government announces that there is no longer any crime anywhere in the country. Even more, the "New American Education" system is revealed when smaller independent colleges are absorbed by larger, Corpo-run universities; traditional curricula (and "intellectual" scholars) are booted out in favor of limited teaching and knowledge building. Languages, history, and literature are replaced with sports, military, and trivial interests such as dog breeding and organization of bridge tournaments.
Need to Know: In the face of brutal repression, individuals may find themselves torn between doing the right thing and survival. Fascism typically disdains arts and intellectualism.
(Continues...)
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Table of Contents
Contents
Context,Overview,
Cast of Characters,
Summary,
Character Analysis,
Themes and Symbols,
Direct Quotes and Analysis,
Trivia,
What's That Word?,
Critical Response,
About Sinclair Lewis,
For Your Information,
Bibliography,
Copyright,