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Zilla Riesling, Paul Riesling\'s wife, is another of the unhappy, would-be rebels in Babbitt. An intelligent, witty woman, she sees Zenith for the dull, conformist place it is and isn\'t afraid to say so. Yet just as her husband Paul\'s insight becomes self-pity, Zilla\'s becomes bitterness. She and Paul turn on each other, making their lives more miserable than they already were.
Paul first deals with Zilla by having an affair; then, enraged, he shoots her. She survives, but when some months later Babbitt visits her, she\'s a changed woman. Once blowsy, though lively, and attractive, she\'s now \"bloodless and aged,\" and \"dreadfully still.\" She\'s become a devout follower of the Pentecostal Communion Faith, but religion, far from teaching her Christian charity, has only increased her bitterness. She claims she\'s found peace, but Babbitt gives an accurate analysis: \"Well, if that\'s what you call being at peace, for heaven\'s sake just warn me before you go to war, will you?\"
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