The Rise of Silas Lapham by William Dean Howells

First published: 1885

Type of work: Novel

Type of plot: Domestic realism

Time of plot: Nineteenth century

Locale: New England

Principal Characters

• Silas Lapham, a self-made manufacturer
• Mrs. Lapham, his wife
• Penelope and Irene, their daughters
• Tom Corey, the Laphams’ friend
• Rogers, Mr. Lapham’s former partner

The Story

Silas Lapham is being interviewed for a Boston paper. The journalist is secretly mocking Lapham’s lifestyle, but Lapham is content with his success and pays little attention to his interviewer as he proudly exhibits a photograph of his two daughters and his wife. He tells how he was brought up in a large family and went west with his brothers, and how, when he returned, he bought a stage route, married the village schoolteacher, and finally hit upon the idea of making paint from a mineral his father had discovered on his farm. The story of his success is a story of determination and hard work. During the American Civil War, his wife kept the paint works going; after the war, he took a man named Rogers as a partner for a short time.

After the interview, Lapham and his wife drive out to see the site of a house they are building in a more fashionable part of Boston. Although both look with pride upon the place soon to be their residence, they pretend not to want the house at all, claiming that the new home will merely be a greater advantage for Penelope and Irene when their friends visit.

Neither Penelope nor Irene anticipates the move with great joy. They think their present house is more convenient for the horsecars. They both realize that their parents are awkward in high society, and they themselves have not been brought up to feel comfortable in the presence of people whose families have been accustomed to wealth for generations.

One day, as Mr. and Mrs. Lapham are dismounting from their carriage, Lapham’s former partner appears unexpectedly. Rogers had provided money to help get the business started, but Lapham eventually bought Rogers out. Lapham insists that what he did was merely good business, but Mrs. Lapham maintains that she never felt quite right about what happened to Rogers. Seeing him again takes all the happiness out of her plans for the new house.

The next time the family ventures out to visit the partly completed house, Irene is surprised by the arrival of Tom Corey, a young man who has shown some interest in her. Immediately, Mr. Lapham begins to dominate the occasion, and his bragging greatly embarrasses his daughters. That evening, young Corey talks to his father, Bromfield Corey, who does not agree with his son’s easy acceptance of the Laphams but does not object when his son announces his intention of applying for a position in Lapham’s firm.

Young Corey visits Lapham in his office to ask for a job. Lapham is so pleased that he invites Corey to go with him to Nantasket, where Mrs. Lapham and the girls are expecting Lapham for the weekend. At the Nantasket cottage, the girls and their mother cannot understand why young Corey is visiting for the weekend, having thought Lapham’s bragging would keep him away forever.

That evening, Lapham discusses Corey with his wife. Mrs. Lapham contends that Corey is interested not in paint or the paint business but in Irene. Mr. Lapham says that if the young man is not interested in the paint, he will never get a chance to be interested in Irene. When Lapham says he intends to give the young man a chance, Mrs. Lapham warns him that he is playing with a situation that is bound to bring trouble. Meanwhile, Corey’s mother is concerned when she hears about her son’s new employment. She admits that she would not object if he were to make a fortune in the paint business, but she does not want him to fall in love with either of the Lapham girls.

After Corey enters Lapham’s employ, he is invited frequently to the Lapham home, for Irene is beginning to fall in love with him. Bromfield Corey grows more and more curious about the Laphams. He decides that his wife should hold a dinner for them in the autumn. The cost of the new house worries Mrs. Lapham, and she asks her husband to stop his lavish spending. She learns that he has given a substantial loan to Rogers, his former partner.

When Mrs. Corey returns from Bar Harbor, she debates a long time about giving a dinner party for the Laphams. The Laphams are newcomers, but she wants to publicly recognize the new connection between her son and the Lapham family. She finally decides to have a formal dinner early in the season, before her more prominent friends return to the city.

On the night of the dinner, the Laphams try to appear at ease. Penelope has refused to attend, thus causing her mother considerable embarrassment. Lapham watches the other men carefully and feels sure that he has not made too many social blunders. The next day, however, he is not so certain, for he took too much wine at dinner.

At the office, Lapham finds Corey and mentions with embarrassment his behavior the night before. He offers Corey his liberty to seek another job, a position among gentlemen, but Corey refuses to go, saying that Lapham’s tipsy talk was only an unfortunate accident. When they part, Corey insists that Lapham’s conduct was proper and entertaining.

That night, feeling that he inadvertently patronized Lapham, Corey resolves to go to his employer and apologize. Lapham is out, but Penelope receives Corey. At the end of a long talk, he stammeringly confesses his love for her. In great confusion, he leaves without waiting to speak to Lapham.

The next day, Mrs. Lapham informs her husband that Corey has been coming to see Penelope the whole time. She can only imagine what the shock will do to Irene. They feel that Penelope will never permit Corey to become her suitor, for Penelope is convinced that he belongs to Irene, who is informed of the situation by her mother that evening. Irene immediately carries to her sister’s room every memento of Corey’s attentions that she possesses. After a few days, Lapham takes her to his boyhood village in Vermont. Corey calls on the Laphams to present his explanation, saying that he has cared for Penelope all this time. Penelope refuses to give him any satisfaction. She says she owes more to her sister’s hurt feelings.

At the same time, Lapham’s finances are troubling him greatly. People who owe him money are unable to pay, and his own creditors are pressing him. Lapham determines to take a trip west to inspect some mills held as security for his loan to Rogers. When he returns, he is even more concerned. Rogers has drawn him into a trap with his securities, for a railroad controls the value of the property. Lapham decides it will be necessary to sell the new house unfinished. Learning of Lapham’s difficulties, Corey offers to lend his employer thirty thousand dollars, but Lapham rejects the offer.

Lapham’s affairs take a turn for the worse with the destruction of the unfinished Back Bay house. Wandering through the house one night, he decides to test one of the chimneys and makes a fire from blocks and shavings that the workmen have left scattered about. He leaves the house thinking the fire has burned out, but that night the house burns to the ground, and the insurance policy expired a week before.

Determined to raise money by selling everything, Lapham visits his competitors, who are working on a new mineral paint. They are willing to merge with him if he can raise money to help develop their plant. While he is trying to secure a loan, he learns from Rogers that some English gentlemen are interested in buying the property that Rogers put up as security and that Lapham thought valueless. Lapham refuses to sell the mills, believing a sale would be unethical as long as the railroad controls their value.

Lapham asks for time to think over the proposition. Shortly afterward, the railroad forces him to sell the mills at a ruinous figure. Lapham feels that his honesty, which kept him from selling the property to the Englishmen, has been unjustly abused. Rogers claims that Lapham has made it impossible for him to recover his losses. Lapham is now ruined, for he cannot raise capital to merge with the rival paint firm.

Corey is determined to marry Penelope in spite of her father’s impending ruin. They marry after Lapham goes into bankruptcy, and Corey's family accepts her for their own sake as well as for his. Irene, who returns from Vermont as soon as she hears of her father’s troubles, is pleased with her sister’s happiness. Lapham manages to save a part of his fortune, but more important to him is the belief that he acted honestly in all his business dealings.

Bibliography

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