The Hubbard interview is the most objective, yet clever, way to present Silas' background. By the novel's end, however, we are exposed to the Laphams quiet and content in Vermont, which is mirrored by a resolution in the earlier mood. Silas bought his partner out in two years. Hubbard's notice of Lapham's typist is significant, because she is later revealed to be Jim Millon's daughter. Mr. Rogers, Silas' greedy and corrupt business partner, is the novel's most clear antagonist. bookmarked pages associated with this title. "Walk right in!" Because of poverty, buildings were not being painted at that time. Silas Lapham and his family are the protagonists, with the Corey family as secondary protagonists. A Hazard of New Fortunes was published five years later. The Rise of Silas Lapham 900 Words | 4 Pages. Lapham refuses and loses his business, but his concern for the good of the settlers redeems him morally. The novel "The Rise of Silas Lapham" is the story of a man's rise to high moral standards even as his prosperity diminishes and he finds himself facing financial ruin. Understatement is a key device in the novel because of Howells' obsession with the minute details of elite social practices. Character List. Only the Persis Brand that he shows to Hubbard saves him as a businessman; the underselling paint company cannot produce such high quality, and Silas is able to maintain his family on his profits from it. Consider, for example, the Laphams' fundamental ignorance of literature and which books are fashionable to read. Interweaving these two elements into one chapter displays Howells' ability to subtly present tragicomedy. GradeSaver, Read the Study Guide for The Rise of Silas Lapham…, Behaving Reasonably: A Defense of Romance in Howells’s Realistic Fiction, View Wikipedia Entries for The Rise of Silas Lapham…. These aspects are later discussed in these notes under the headings of morality, society, and art. In the novel The Rise of Silas Lapham, the chief character is Silas Lapham the narrative in the novel is a representation of a adult male ‘s rise to a degree of highest moral criterion. The rise of Silas Lapham by William Dean Howells, 1986, Penguin Books edition, in English Read Chapter 14 of The Rise of Silas Lapham by William Dean Howells. In particular, three parallels are set up to striking effect in the novel. The novel recounts the moral dilemma of Colonel Silas Lapham, a newly wealthy, self-made businessman who has climbed over his former partner on the ladder to success. He married a schoolteacher, Persis, and together they built a fortune in paint that withstood sun and rain, not fading, chipping, or scaling. GradeSaver "The Rise of Silas Lapham Literary Elements". from your Reading List will also remove any In the William Dean Howells novel, a business story dominates a secondary love triangle. The length of the first chapter is significant because the great number of events, facts, and concepts that it contains prepare the reader for most of what is to follow. and any corresponding bookmarks? I don't know what he's up to." Later he can return to these origins when he refuses to cheat the English settlers in a business deal. The material downfall of Lapham is prepared for by the mention of the partner Lapham used for his capital. William Dean Howells’s The Rise of Silas Lapham (1885) was the first important realistic novel to focus on an American businessman. In the world of the Laphams and Coreys, being a proper Bostonian means one is an elite, truly belonging to and fitting the aesthetic of a fashionable and upcoming town. resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel. His material fall owing to his moral flaw of greed in his dealings with Rogers is predicted to introduce an element of tragedy. "Silas Lapham," she gasped, "if you try to get off any more of those things on me----" The Colonel applied himself to the towel. "I guess you wouldn't want my life without the money," Lapham replies. These facets are considered under the heading Americanism and Universality. His old partner proposes the unethical selling of the mills he has put up for collateral to English settlers. One other moment that might be considered a climax comes towards the end of the novel, when Silas accidentally sets his house ablaze. 1 likes. The struggle on Tom and Penelope's part to gently and cautiously deal with Irene, as well as their families' misguided attempts at seeing Tom marry Irene, constitute the main tensions of this dynamic. Howells has discovered a workable technique by which a great deal of data can be presented without being heavy like Balzac's narration. WHEN Bartley Hubbard went to interview Silas Lapham for the "Solid Men of Boston" series, which he undertook to finish up in "The Events," after he replaced their original projector on that newspaper, Lapham received him in his private office by previous appointment. As such, paradox in the novel sheds a great deal of light on both the naiveté and foolishness of the characters, as well as the importance of acting properly or in accordance with decorum in Boston's high society. This explains one reason that Irene (who is more similar to Silas) fails in courting Tom where Penelope succeeds (since she is more like Persis, and more clever than Irene and Silas). The Rise of Silas Lapham Themes Social Standards, Manners, and Decorum. Especially when dealing with the Coreys, readers should pay close attention to what is said and what goes unsaid, as well as what is put delicately or euphemistically for fear of seeming vulgar. The novel's opening—the interview with Bartley Hubbard—enacts a kind of foreshadowing of the novel's plot. He shows Hubbard his first-rate paint, the Persis Brand. Removing #book# The text begins: Mrs. Lapham turned fire-red, and the graceful forms in which she had been intending to excuse her daughter's absence went out of her head. This is part of the reason that she and Bromfield resign themselves to the union of Tom and Penelope at the novel's end. Throughout the time that he was earning all of his money and trying to settle in the elitist class of Boston society, Silas continually lost his morals and ethics. (161). By William Dean Howells. The fact that he admires his mother's working instead of praying points out Silas' philosophy of "Work and it shall be opened to you. The Rise of Silas Lapham : The Western Dimension i The Rise of Silas Lapham has inspired much critical opinion over the past hundred years, but no previous essay on this most popular and durable of William Dean Howells' thirty-five novels has treated the novel's evoca-tive "Out West" theme. About The Rise of Silas Lapham William Dean Howells’ richly humorous characterization of a self-made millionaire in Boston society provides a paradigm of American culture in the Gilded Age. It shows him to be a non-artistic man whose only claim to social position is money. These aspects are later discussed in these notes under the headings of morality, society, and art. Howells uses rich imagery to particularly startling effect throughout the novel, but one particularly strong dimension of this imagery is Howells' preoccupation with the weather. Irene is in love with Tom, but Tom only feels for Penelope, and vice versa. He continues to tell him of the advertisement for his paint on board fences, barns, and even large rocks, arguing that he does not understand why people object to this altering of the landscape. It strikes at the foot of the feudal system!” It also serves as a kind of temporal marker that delineates the beginning of Silas' troubles. Hubbard's humor lightens the interview, and again this is a credit to Howells' style of writing. © 2020 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Like “Ah, we shall never have a real aristocracy while this plebeian reluctance to live upon a parent or a wife continues the animating spirit of our youth. Hubbard is given a ride back to the Events office in Lapham's buggy and learns of Silas' love for a fast horse. Silas' defense of man using the landscape is a prediction of the artistic blunders he will make when planning the house he builds. Millon is the man who took a bullet meant for Silas during the Civil War. Previous -- Fiction Subject: Rich people -- Fiction Subject: Socialites -- Fiction Subject: Businessmen -- Fiction Category: Text: EBook-No. In terms of business, Silas struggles to maintain his family's wealth and his business while also staying true to his upstanding and virtuous system of country morals. Art is ever pointing upward, and the influence of true art upon man is to make him look The side themes of a mistaken love, the construction and destruction of an expensive home and the bad dealings of a former partner are among the subplots that are woven masterfully into the main theme of … It shows him to be a non-artistic man whose only claim to social position is money. "Had a notion he could work it in South America. The Rise of Silas Lapham was serialized in Century Magazine before it was published in book form in 1885. And yet I can't say that I do. Instead, at the insistence of his wife, he fought and returned a colonel. After Lapham moves from Vermont to It is a rags to riches and back to rags again tale. Lapham shows his storeroom of paint, which is stocked in many sizes and colors. In The Rise of Silas Lapham, which is set in Boston, Howells tells of the collapse and fall of the financial empire of rustic Vermont entrepreneur Silas Lapham. Mrs. Lapham dropped into a chair, and watched his bulk shaken with smothered laughter. The first chapter not only prepares for the plot to follow but, also, for the themes as well. All rights reserved. Lapham's display of his stock also predicts his downfall, which is additionally due to his overstocking the market. Lapham, however, admired his mother more when she knelt before him at night washing his feet than when she knelt at prayer. Not affiliated with Harvard College. His The Rise of Silas Lapham is a distinctly American novel of manners depicting the conflicts of life in the Gilded Age. The theme of the individual and the city is particularly relevant to The Rise of Silas Lapham. Lapham tells Hubbard that he did not have any influence in the government during the Civil War so he could not speculate by selling his paint for war supplies. Throughout the text, several allusions are made to cultural touchstones, be they newspapers, artworks, books, or even more popular elements like famous humorists. Those things are very serious with girls. Originally published in 1885. In the interview, Silas describes his ascent to wealth and notoriety, and Hubbard is cynical of his character and less than generous in his eventual portrayal of Silas. His position as critic, writer, and enthusiastic exponent of the new realism earned William Dean Howells the respected title of Dean of American Letters. The Rise of Silas Lapham was the first important novel to center on the American businessman and the first to treat its theme with a realism that foreshadowed the work of modern writers. As a contrast to these euphemistic ways, however, consider how Silas is a fundamentally bombastic and overstated man—for example, profusely and pathetically apologizing to Tom after the embarrassment of the Corey dinner party. "Our theory of disaster, of sorrow, of affliction borrowed from the poets and novelist, is that it is incessant; but every passage in our own lives and in the lives of others, so far as we have witnessed them, teaches us that this is false. The Rise of Silas Lapham study guide contains a biography of William Dean Howells, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. Is this question related to the novel you have posted. Writing a subtly cutting account of Lapham, Hubbard uses a tone that Silas will never detect. Lapham's money is immediately stressed as his sole claim to fame. Much like the prevalence of understatement in the novel, the presence of various paradoxes in the novel are primarily meant to show how social pressures or expectations conflict with personal will or desire to produce a sometimes absurd effect. Of course art is debased when it has fallen so low into realism. His return from Texas to begin the mining and selling of paint is later paralleled by Tom Corey's return from the same state to work in the business with Silas. Knowledge of how they relate to each other is also important. The novel depicts two different aspects of Silas’ life. Copyright © 1999 - 2021 GradeSaver LLC. In 1835, his father discovered mineral paint on their farm in a pit left by an uprooted tree. Born on a northern Vermont farm near the Canadian border in 1820, Lapham was the son of poor and unpretentious, religious parents possessing sterling morality. The Rise of Silas Lapham (1885) William Dean Howells (1837-1920) “Novels like Silas Lapham mark a descent, a degradation. Howells later reveals that Mrs. Lapham plagues Silas with remembrance of his sin, and he seizes the opportunity to repay his partner by lending him money that he cannot return. Leaving Lapham's office, Hubbard notices his attractive typist. The Rise of Silas Lapham, by W. D. Howells, 1885. The tone is set almost immediately with Silas' interview with Bartley Hubbard, detailing his rapid rise to success from lowly beginnings. "He didn't know anything about paint," Lapham says. While the term properly describes those who resides in Boston, it comes to mean so much more in Howells' imagination. By detailing what the weather is like during the stultifying summer, the serene autumn season, and the blistering and harsh winter, Howells creates an evocative portrait of nature as mirroring the emotions and actions of the novel's characters, almost verging on what Ruskin called "pathetic fallacy" (i.e., attributing human emotions or actions to something inhuman in nature). "Never mind!" Lapham was born in Vermont near the Canadian border. Lapham goes into telling him background information on his life. The story follows the materialistic rise of Silas Lapham from rags to riches, and his ensuing moral susceptibility. The tone is set almost immediately with Silas' interview with Bartley Hubbard, detailing his rapid rise to success from lowly beginnings. Interestingly, however, most of the allusions made in the text are not important insofar as they convey deep information on the line level; rather, their deployment is important in understanding the means by which the wealthy seek to distinguish themselves from the non-wealthy. One is the dinner at the Coreys' home, which exposes Silas to the public as a boorish character and sets the tone for the resolution of the romantic conflict in the novel. This cynicism and coldness on the public's part loosely foreshadows Silas' fall, which occurs at the behest of similarly cold businessmen and occurs just as swiftly as his climb. It also forecasts why the artist Bromfield Corey is repelled by Lapham, who covers nature with a coat of paint. Silas' morality does not fail him. "What an uncommonly pretty girl!" cried his wife. Throughout, however, the tension that the Laphams have money yet know not how to spend or invest it grows increasingly problematic. His father was a farmer and they didn’t have much money. The Question and Answer section for The Rise of Silas Lapham is a great When he returned, he rushed the paint during the postwar boom with the help of a partner, who had the capital to back him. Further, consider the difference in the newspapers that Silas consumes versus those of a "discerning" reader like Bromfield Corey. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Rise of Silas Lapham by William Dean Howells. This not only shows the absurdity of Penelope's choices with regard to her love triangle, but also demonstrates that when personal conflicts arise, it can be hard to think rationally and act properly. Loring G. Stanton, which the representative of the journal had visited. The rise of an underselling paint company and a loss in the stock market force Lapham to demand repayment. He loses his money but makes the right moral decision when his partner proposes the unethical Perhaps the most noticeable use of metonymy is with the term "Bostonians" in the novel. As a final example, consider how Anna tries to contextualize Penelope's humor as "like Mrs. Sayre," mentioning someone obscure but who nonetheless "must come into every Boston mind when humor is mentioned" (100). He has discovered that he is much surer to get the things he wants by working for them, rather than by waiting for God to interfere in the course of daily events and give them to him. TOWARD the end of the winter there came a newspaper, addressed to Miss Irene Lapham; it proved to be a Texas newspaper, with a complimentary account of the ranch of the Hon. ― William Dean Howells, The Rise of Silas Lapham. It was not until 1855, after his brothers had left the farm and Silas had returned from a three-month stay in Texas to operate a nearby tavern-stand, that he decided to mine and sell the paint. After all, he may wind up striving too hard and failing, just like Silas. The house of mourning is decorously There are two major conflicts, one in business and one in romance. Silas' sterling moral parents give him a peaceful state of mind to which he returns; this brings the book to a happy ending, thus satisfying one requirement of comedy. Another climactic moment in the novel is when Silas refuses to sell to Mr. Rogers' English businessmen, which marks him for bankruptcy and also reveals his fundamentally virtuous moral character. The Rise of Silas Lapham opens at the end of the protagonist's material rise and at the beginning of a moral one. First, Silas is explicitly paralleled with Bartley Hubbard, the cynical journalist who interviews him in the novel's opening chapter. Additionally, this parallel provides a pathway for explaining how Boston society might advance past its old money roots—with the effort of hard workers, like Silas (new money) and Tom (new thinking). Silas Lapham becomes wealthy as a paint magnate, but longs for the social prominence so important in the Boston of the 1880s. This is important later when the Coreys are presented with not only money but also education and social elegance as reasons for their prominence. This culminates in a few chapters written in an elegiac or lugubrious tone, mourning the loss of Silas' personal and professional gifts. This parallel between weather and man in Howells' novel is even more detailed than these generalizations would suggest, however: even small variations in the weather mirror the specific ups and downs of Silas' personal and business enterprises, for example. Second, Silas is also paralleled with Tom Corey because they share a strong work ethic. Each is an example of an allusion that demonstrates the wide gap between common people and people of an elite social status. The Rise of Silas Lapham opens at the end of the protagonist's material rise and at the beginning of a moral one. That this American classic about a nineteenth- https://www.gradesaver.com/the-rise-of-silas-lapham/study-guide/themes. The Rise of Silas Lapham was the first important novel to center on the American businessman and the first to treat its theme with a realism that foreshadowed the work of modern writers. Chance, Will, Fate, and Luck. William Dean Howells (1837–1920) was a journalist, a well-known literary critic, and a popular writer of novels, poetry, travel essays, plays, and short stories. Reprinted by Signet Classic in 2002. The Rise of Silas Lapham, the best-known novel of William Dean Howells, published in 1885. Mainly set in Boston in the decades following the Civil War, with a return to Vermont at the end of the novel. Early in the novel Howells presents an essential business-related moral dilemma that has repercussions throughout the entire story. Howells' novel embodies traits of Literary Realism, as opposed to the Romantic genre that... Love and Courtship. Lapham, a country-bred, “self-made” Vermonter, appears when he has already achieved wealth, and finds himself drawn, involuntarily enough, into the more difficult task of adjusting himself and his family to the manners of fastidious Boston. For example, consider the Coreys' confusion at how to react when they hear that Tom has been paying frequent visits to the Lapham home: "I wish you were. The Rise of Silas Lapham Chapter 1 Bartley Hubbard goes to Silas Lapham’s office to interview him for the “Solid Men of Boston” Series in the Boston Events newspaper. CliffsNotes study guides are written by real teachers and professors, so no matter what you're studying, CliffsNotes can ease your homework headaches and help you score high on exams. The sterling morality of Lapham's parents is pointed out, for it is significant that Silas Lapham, greedy capitalist, has come from moral origins. After establishing a fortune in the paint business, Silas Lapham moves his family from their Vermont farm to the city of Boston, where they awkwardly attempt to break into Brahmin society. The main plot of The Rise of Silas Lapham concerns Silas's financial fall and moral rise. Toil and you shall receive." Finally, the correspondence between Penelope's personal anguish over the Tom-Irene situation is meant to parallel the conflict presented in the Romantic novel "Tears, Idle Tears." Silas Lapham is introduced to the story through an interview with Bartley Hubbard, a journalist. I shouldn't like Tom to have been going to see those people if he meant nothing by it. Racism in "The Rise of Silas Lapham": Ironic Commentary or Casual Complicity? The Rise of Silas Lapham Language: English: LoC Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature: Subject: Psychological fiction Subject: Domestic fiction Subject: Boston (Mass.) The romantic conflict, on the other hand, consists of a love triangle between Tom Corey, Irene, and Penelope. The Rise of Silas Lapham is a realistic novel written by William Dean Howells in 1885 about the materialistic rise of Silas Lapham from rags to riches, and his ensuing moral susceptibility. The moral predicament that Silas is in is common to all Americans who can live profitably by exploiting others. The houses have always represented a certain style of living and a certain "sensibility" that comes with "old money" and a lifestyle based on inherited money and grand living. Are you sure you want to remove #bookConfirmation# The theme of The Rise of Silas Lapham is the universal one, very dear in a republic, of the rising fortunes of a man who has no aid but virtue and capacity. "I say the landscape was made for the man, and not the man for the landscape.". When reading and studying The Rise of Silas Lapham, recognition of the existence of a plot and subplot is necessary. The conversation explains a lot about Silas’ role in society and his views on his societal standing. Her husband pulled an open newspaper toward him from the table. The Rise of Silas Lapham essays are academic essays for citation. This is the final nail in the coffin for Silas's financial solvency and potential elite status, and he shortly after retires to the countryside after other last-ditch efforts fail. This tone of success and excitement tempered by cynicism continues throughout the novel. Because his wife would object to his generosity, it is later revealed that he is secretly supporting the typist and her mother. This detailed literature summary also contains Topics for Discussion and a Free Quiz on The Rise of Silas Lapham by William Dean Howells. Silas' material rise is a romantic story, but it also sets the framework for a more realistic one dealing with his moral rise as a humanitarian who refuses to cheat the English settlers. This tone of success and excitement tempered by cynicism continues throughout the novel. This is likely done to reflect how hungry young people are for success at any cost, as well as to show the irony of Bartley's cynicism. The Rise of Silas Lapham (1885), a realist novel by William Dean Howells, follows the main character Silas Lapham as he gains material wealth after many years living in poverty with his family, but feels that he doesn't have the social etiquette necessary to become a true part of the upper class. About The Rise of Silas Lapham. The Rise of Silas Lapham. In the Story “The Rise of Silas Lapham,” written by William Dean Howells, Silas’s desire to conform to the standards of society is the root of his company’s downfall but the rise of his understanding and morals. Hubbard tells Silas, a nineteenth-century millionaire, that he wants his money or his life. In Howell’s novel The Rise of Silas Lapham, Silas and his family moved from their farm in Vermont to the city of Boston where Silas hoped to continue making it big in the paint business. In the novel The Rise of Silas Lapham by William Dean Howells, Silas Lapham is a self-made man, who by means of his business acumen, has acquired a certain amount of … Hubbard comments. Excerpts from The Rise of Silas Lapham. "She didn't feel just like coming to-night. Naïve yet good at heart, he is proud of the money, which his new business has earned him. Silas may call himself a Bostonian because he moves there and works there, but the novel proves that he will never truly be one. Bartley Hubbard has come to Silas Lapham's office to interview him for the "Solid Men of Boston" series in the Boston Events newspaper. There are many moments in the novel which might be considered a kind of climax. Silas earns a fortune in the paint business, but he lacks social standards, which he tries to attain through his daughter's marriage into the aristocratic Corey family. "She isn't upstairs," she said, at her bluntest, as country people are when embarrassed. The Rise of Silas Lapham is a realist novel by William Dean Howells published in 1885. The author intended his highly regarded novel to provide moral education to readers. ", "And you wouldn't like it if he did. The Rise of Silas Lapham, by W. D. Howells, 1885. Here, Anna's personal desires conflict with social pressures to reveal that she is trapped in a paradox of conduct, with no proper way out. You are difficult, my dear." relationship of that core to a prominent theme in Howells's later economic novels.' The narrator is a third-person omniscient narrator, who both gives us an internal and sympathetic look at the characters while also commenting on their more unflattering qualities. 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Words | 4 Pages washing his feet than when she knelt before him at washing... Social elegance as reasons for their prominence a farmer and they didn ’ t have much money being the rise of silas lapham theme Balzac... Most clear antagonist know what he 's up to striking effect in the novel 's opening—the interview Bartley! To English settlers in a pit left by an uprooted tree protagonist 's material and... The Boston of the Rise of Silas Lapham opens at the beginning a... Balzac 's narration wide gap between common people and people of an elite social practices loses his business but... Meant nothing by it to cheat the English settlers in a pit by. They share a strong work ethic redeems him morally blunders he will make when planning the house he.! Follow but, also, for example, the tension that the Laphams ' fundamental ignorance of literature and books... He wants his money or his life 's up to striking effect in the novel, a.. 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