Résumé
Résumé de L’Ascension de Silas Lapham
Go deeper: the whole of L’Ascension de Silas Lapham
About 8 h 50 min to read.À qui s’adresse-t-il ?
For readers who love domestic novels about money, manners and moral choice, and anyone curious about Boston after the Civil War. It will please those who enjoy gentle irony.
De quoi parle ce livre ?
What does money buy a man who lacks the manners that go with it? Silas Lapham, a Vermont farm boy turned rich Boston paint maker, is about to find out. William Dean Howells published this novel in 1885 as a plain look at American life after the Civil War. Silas is rough, proud and generous. His wife Persis and daughters Irene and Penelope follow him into a city whose ladders are not built of dollars. No one in the story is a villain, and no one is a saint.
Dans ce résumé
- 1A paint maker tells his success storyFree
- 2Wealth sits uneasily with an old debt
- 3A fine house on a fashionable street
- 4The Coreys, old name and thin purse
- 5Two sisters and one young man
- 6A dinner that shows how far apart they are
- 7Business pressure and a jealous suspicion
- 8What the novel says about money and conscience
- 9How Howells tells it: realism and quiet irony
Point clé 1 sur 9
A paint maker tells his success story
The novel opens with an interview. A young journalist named Bartley Hubbard visits Silas Lapham's office to gather material for a newspaper series on solid men of Boston. Silas is happy to talk.
He tells how his father found a vein of mineral paint on the Vermont farm. He is proud that no one gave him anything, and he wants the world to know the Lapham name. He counts his life in what he built and what it brings in. He is not a miser, but he has one yardstick for most things.
Yet there is a sting under the cheerful talk. Silas glides past an old matter with a business partner that he does not enjoy remembering. The reporter lets it pass, but the reader is meant to notice. That small silence is the first sign that his rise has a hidden price.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Go deeper: the whole of L’Ascension de Silas Lapham
About 8 h 50 min to read.Who’s who
- Silas Lapham
- A prosperous Vermont-born paint manufacturer, Silas wants social acceptance for his family without abandoning his sense of honesty.
- Persis Lapham
- Silas's practical and loyal wife, Persis worries about their daughters' happiness and challenges her husband's business decisions.
- Irene Lapham
- Silas and Persis's pretty younger daughter, Irene hopes Tom Corey's visits signal a romantic interest in her.
- Penelope Lapham
- Irene's witty elder sister, Penelope views her family's social aspirations with humor and a sharper sense of their difficulties.
- Tom Corey
- Bromfield Corey's educated son, Tom seeks useful employment in Silas's business and becomes a welcome visitor among the Laphams.
- Bromfield Corey
- Tom's cultivated father, Bromfield belongs to an established Boston family and regards the newly wealthy Laphams with ironic curiosity.
- Milton Rogers
- Silas's former business partner, Rogers brings financial schemes that trouble Silas and revive Persis's concerns about their past dealings.
- Bartley Hubbard
- A young journalist interviewing Silas about his success, Bartley draws out the manufacturer's pride in his business and family.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 134,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 9 h
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 11 other languages
Questions about L’Ascension de Silas Lapham
What is The Rise of Silas Lapham about?
It follows Silas Lapham, a Vermont-born paint maker who grows rich in Boston and tries to win social standing for his family. His ambition, an old business debt and a family romance test his sense of honor.
Who is Silas Lapham?
He is the main character, a self-made businessman who built his fortune on a mineral paint found on his father's farm. He is proud, kind and rough in manner, and he served as a colonel in the Civil War.
Is The Rise of Silas Lapham a true story?
No, it is fiction, published in 1885. Howells based it on the real world of Boston and the new rich of the post-Civil War years.
What is the main message of The Rise of Silas Lapham?
The novel suggests that real worth lies in conscience and character more than in money or social rank. It shows how hard it can be to stay honest when ambition and business pull the other way.
Is The Rise of Silas Lapham hard to read?
No. The story is easy to follow because it begins with a lively scene, a reporter interviewing a proud paint maker who tells his own tale. The language is plain, and the narrator speaks with warmth and humor, so each family scene is clear.