It Can’t Happen Here

It Can’t Happen Here

by

Sinclair Lewis

Philip Jessup, Doremus and Emma Jessup’s eldest son, is a successful lawyer who lives in Worcester, Massachusetts. Unlike his father and his siblings Mary and Sissy, Philip staunchly supports Buzz Windrip, whom he sees as the U.S.’s best defense against evil Jews and Communists. After his parents try and fail to escape to Canada, Philip visits them, reveals that the Corpos are appointing him to a judgeship, and attempts to convince his father to support the regime. He even defends the Corpos’ concentration camps and Judge Swan’s arbitrary decision to execute his brother-in-law Fowler Greenhill. Doremus dismisses Philip, recognizing that they will never see eye-to-eye. Philip’s political leanings show how fascist propaganda can easily brainwash even educated professionals, especially by appealing to their self-interest. Meanwhile, Philip and Doremus’s falling-out shows how totalitarian states take over people’s lives by convincing them that their identity depends on politics and that their connections to others only matter if they further the government’s goals.

Philip Jessup Quotes in It Can’t Happen Here

The It Can’t Happen Here quotes below are all either spoken by Philip Jessup or refer to Philip Jessup. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
American Fascism Theme Icon
).
Chapter 24 Quotes

“I can do nothing of the kind! I can never forgive evil and lying and cruel means, and still less can I forgive fanatics that use that for an excuse! If I may imitate Romain Rolland, a country that tolerates evil means—evil manners, standards of ethics—for a generation, will be so poisoned that it never will have any good end. I’m just curious, but do you know how perfectly you’re quoting every Bolshevik apologist that sneers at decency and kindness and truthfulness in daily dealings as ‘bourgeois morality’? I hadn’t understood that you’d gone quite so Marxo-materialistic!”

Related Characters: Doremus Jessup/William Barton Dobbs (speaker), Philip Jessup
Page Number: 238
Explanation and Analysis:
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Philip Jessup Quotes in It Can’t Happen Here

The It Can’t Happen Here quotes below are all either spoken by Philip Jessup or refer to Philip Jessup. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
American Fascism Theme Icon
).
Chapter 24 Quotes

“I can do nothing of the kind! I can never forgive evil and lying and cruel means, and still less can I forgive fanatics that use that for an excuse! If I may imitate Romain Rolland, a country that tolerates evil means—evil manners, standards of ethics—for a generation, will be so poisoned that it never will have any good end. I’m just curious, but do you know how perfectly you’re quoting every Bolshevik apologist that sneers at decency and kindness and truthfulness in daily dealings as ‘bourgeois morality’? I hadn’t understood that you’d gone quite so Marxo-materialistic!”

Related Characters: Doremus Jessup/William Barton Dobbs (speaker), Philip Jessup
Page Number: 238
Explanation and Analysis: