Main Street

Main Street Summary | Chapters 1, 2, and 3 Summary

Main Street is Sinclair Lewis' novel of American life as portrayed by the residents of the fictional town of Gopher Prairie, Minnesota in the early 1900's. The microcosm of life in this small town is held up for inspection and comparison to other towns all around the world for all the similarities in their functions and foibles.

As the story begins, Carol Milford is a college student at Blodgett College in 1910 Minneapolis. Carol is an intellectual girl with aesthetic sensibilities and dreams. She wants a life that includes more than marriage and children, even though there are many boys who would be interested in marrying her. Carol's vision includes upgrading a prairie town in the Midwest to have more style and culture like towns in the East.

Carol graduates college and moves to Chicago, where she lives a bohemian lifestyle complete with beer parties, bobbed hair and cigarettes. Carol does not really fit in with this crowd and moves to St. Paul after a year. Carol works in the St. Paul library for three years, where she endures the tedious work and deflects the attentions of many men.

Carol's future changes, one day, when she meets Dr. Will Kennicott at a friend's house. Kennicott is from Gopher Prairie, Minnesota, and occasionally comes to St. Paul, but prefers small town life. As Carol and Kennicott get acquainted, Kennicott speaks about the wonderful people in Gopher Prairie, and how the town needs someone like Carol to revitalize it.

Carol and Kennicott marry and return to Gopher Prairie by train. Some of the town's notable citizens come to welcome Carol. She moves into Kennicott's house, which had been kept by Kennicott's mother. She has has moved out, so that Carol can make the house her own.