THE RISE OF SILAS LAPHAM

Does Howells employ humor? Penelope, Bromfield, and Hubbard can be counted upon to give humorous accounts in many of the book’s situations. Through them Howells brings humor to the novel. Penelope, for example, tells Tom that upon meeting his father for the first time after her engagement “he was sitting […]

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Is the plot employed to convey ideas? If Howells does employ facts in his plot that are not completely probable, he does it to convey ideas. His illustration of businessman’s need for integrity based on sound moral judgment is shown through the events of Silas Lapham’s life. Howells’ plot is […]

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Also American women can learn from Howells’ parable until they are free from the fantasies of emotional agony, heroically surmounted by overwhelming self-sacrifice. When Americans take a more realistic look at life and live by it, Howells’ story will be outdated.

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Elegant but sterile in his art, Corey can talk about it, but he cannot effectively practice it. He retreats into a world of seclusion and theories, never becoming actively engaged in producing an object of outstanding art. The largeness of Silas’ project reflects his activity and drive, but Lapham’s conception […]

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Silas, whose main pursuits outside of business are the newspaper, theater, and lectures, does not fulfill Bromfield’s description of a civilized man. “All civilization comes through literature,” Bromfield states, and Lapham is not a reading man. Commenting on drama in his time, Corey says, “Theater is intellectually degrading,” and newspapers […]

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The South End Home — This is the home where much of the action of Lapham’s story takes place. It represents Lapham’s inability to rise socially as he rises materially. It is a home of conflict, one that all are happy to leave because of the memories it holds in […]

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Outward signs of Lapham’s corruption are evident throughout the novel. His attempts to buy his social position with a costly house and his attempt to buy his way out of moral responsibility with a loan to Rogers are both comments on Lapham’s low moral condition as well as a reflection […]

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The secondary plot of the Irene Penelope Corey triangle love affair gives Howells another opportunity to defeat romantic ideas. The assumption that Tom loves Irene for her beauty rather than Penelope for her wit is a romantic notion held by both the Laphams and the Coreys. Howells shows us of […]

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One view of tragedy calls for the downfall of a better than average man through some fault of his own. The destruction of Silas as a businessman accords well with this concept, for Silas, a wealthier than average man, loses his fortune owing to his greed. Silas’ moral flaw is […]

Read more Critical Essays The Rise of Silas Lapham as Tragicomedy

He did not fully put his talents to work until after he wrote the campaign biography of Lincoln. Money earned from this biography afforded him a trip to New England, where he met James Russell Lowell. Lowell used his influence to help Howells gain the United States consul post in […]

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