Source identified1
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Read & copy
“He had enormous and poetic admiration, though very little understanding, of all mechanical devices.”
Meaning & context
Lewis satirizes Babbitt’s enthusiasm for modern gadgets by separating his emotional reverence for technology from any real understanding of how it works.
Source details
Babbitt, Chapter VI, section I, Project Gutenberg #1156. The narrator says Babbitt has ‘enormous and poetic admiration’ but little understanding of mechanical devices while describing his fascination with consumer technology and technical-sounding language. This is satirical fictional characterization inside Lewis's critique of boosterism and middle-class modernity, not a factual judgment about technology users generally.