Which novel satirizes small-town Midwestern life and was written by Sinclair Lewis?

• A. The Jungle
• B. Arrowsmith
• C. Main Street
• D. Babbitt

Answer: (C)

The question tests recognizing a satirical take on life in a small Midwestern town. Main Street does this most directly: it follows Carol Milford as she moves to the fictional Gopher Prairie and exposes the tight, ritual-bound world of the town—the gossip, religious scruples, and insistence on respectability that stifle individuality and change. Sinclair Lewis uses sharp wit to reveal how surface politeness and conventional values mask conformity and hypocrisy, making the town’s ideal of “good life” feel hollow.

The other works tackle different targets: The Jungle exposes brutal conditions in urban industry; Arrowsmith centers on scientific ambition and the ethics of research; Babbitt mocks American middle-class conformity in a Midwestern setting but focuses more on a provincial, business-oriented life than the specific small-town provincialism that Main Street lampoons.