Arrowsmith Essay -- essays research papers

Arrowsmith is a classic American novel written by Sinclair Lewis. Lewis wrote this book in the early 1900’s as a current outlook on the world of science in that time. The main theme it focuses on is commercialism and its effect on science. During this time period there were many advances in the field of medicine; everyone was racing to find the cure to deadly diseases and then patent it and profit off it. Helping humanity was more of a business than a service to the human race as doctors and institutes became more and more capitalistic. Like a business trying to maximize its profit, many doctors and scientists cut corners and guessed at many things so they could get their products or methods on the market as fast as possible. However, there were a few scientists who stayed strictly devoted to their science, not letting money, glory, and success corrupt them. Scientists such as this despised commercialism and held contempt against the other doctors and scientists who fell into that system of capitalism. The book follows the life of Martin Arrowsmith, a scientist who is torn between pure science and commercialism. He wants to be a true scientist but he is pushed into commercialism by everyone he meets, except for a select few. Among the few is Max Gottlieb, who is Martin’s model for everything a true scientist should be. Gottlieb is a bacteriologist who is completely against the capitalist values of commercial doctors and scientists; he devotes himself religiously to his science, and he believes in being completely thorough and not guessing or accepting things without completely understanding them. Terry Wickett, a disciple of Gottlieb’s, holds all the same values and attitudes as Gottlieb toward capitalism and commercialism. He helps Martin break away from commercialism, and become a true scientist. Another person who greatly helps Martin in his life is his first wife, Leora Tozer, who stands by and supports Martin no matter what. She devotes herself to Martin as much as Gottlieb devotes himself to his science. She supports him in whatever decision he decides to make, she helps and comforts him in his times of need, and she remains completely loyal to him at all times, even when he is not completely loyal to her. The story starts with Martin Arrowsmith as a medical student at Winnemac University, where he was first introduced to commercial science and pure s... ...from the Plague. What is ironic about this is that this pure science tends to benefit humanity more than commercialism science in the long run. The notion that one significant improvement over a long period of time is better than a series of failures and half-successes is drowned out by the propaganda of commercialism. Pure science produces methods and medicines that are certain. They have been thoroughly tested and proved to be successful, as opposed to the medicines produced by commercial scientists. While they produce more, they are not certain as to what effect they will have. They hope that if their product works in one situation, it will work in every situation. However, commercial science does have positive points as pure science has negative points. While pure science is more certain it is also much more long term. Commercial science gives immediate care and help, despite how much it may actually help. Pure science is presented as something that looks toward and works for the future, while commercial science deals with what is happening at the moment, but commercialism hinders pure science so much that, in effect, it may be bringing about the destruction of its own future.