Sinclair Lewis's 1925 novel Arrowsmith follows a pair of bacteriologists, Martin Arrowsmith and his mentor Max Gottlieb, as they travel through various professions in science and medicine in the early decades of the twentieth century. Gottlieb and his protégé, Martin, explore the status and roles of scientific work in universities, industry, and a private research foundation, as well as in various medical positions. Lewis presents a picture of tension and conflict between the goals and ideals of pure science and the environments in which its protagonists must operate. Although Gottlieb and Arrowsmith are able to advance their research in some places, their work is continually hampered and undermined by commercialism. Sinclair Lewis uses Martin Arrowsmith's education as a means of examining whether medical universities should be devoted primarily to teaching or research. This specific topic is exemplified by the fictional Winnemac University, where there is a relatively hostile atmosphere towards the research that Gottlieb and Martin wish to pursue. Gottlieb is generally dismissed as “the world's unconscious,” “an old laboratory plug,” “a 'crapehanger' who wasted time destroying other people's theories instead of creating new ones” (Lewis 10, 35, 9). He is forced to waste his time teaching elementary bacteriology to students who are not interested, while Arrowsmith is forced to waste his time taking classes unrelated to the research he loves. Martin's lack of interest in his classes seems to say that, instead of taking a wide variety of science classes, medical students who wish to pursue research should be allowed to take only the classes necessary for research. Lewis's portrayal of Gottlieb's work... appears to be the story of a young medical student trying to find his way, but in reality this story is a criticism of the medical field and America in general. It is because of Martin's lack of interest in non-research-related classes, and Gottlieb's dissatisfaction with teaching, that Lewis asks the question: should universities focus on research or teaching? Through Gottlieb's experience at the Hunziker Company, Lewis brings to light the question of how much control pharmaceutical companies and research laboratories should have over researchers. Martin seems to find his scientific paradise in the McGurk Institution, but it becomes clear that this institution preaches commercialism, not in profit but in prestige. The novel's conclusion suggests that the only way to truly escape commercialism is to cut all ties with the commercial world and find an escape route.