``The Rise of Silas Lapham by Dean Howells Essay Example for Free

The Rise of Silas Lapham by Dean Howells Essay Argumentative thesis : In Dean Howells The Rise of Silas Lapham, Silas was a man victimized of the Gilded age as seem through the sudden immigration of his family to Boston and his obscure and ambitious attempt of permeating the upper social strata by means of having his daughters marry an elite of the aspired social ground, and having his business on a set back. All of which points a significance in the development of the Gilded age. Introduction The Gilded Age in American history is marked by the growth of industry and wave of immigrants along the territorial arena. Coined by Mark Twain, the age refers to the period of conspicuous luxury yet corrupted beneath. There was a development in railroad industry, and steel and oil production instantly were in great demand during this period. Some men, hence, has been prominently a subject to opportunities of formidable opulence and wealth. To name, there was John D. Rockefeller famed for his oil success and Arnold Carnegie renowned for his steel undertakings. known both as robber barons (people who acquired wealth and fortune through various ruthless business deals). While several people distinctively wore diamonds, there are however still a number of people who clothed rags. And as a consequence of the well-offs immodesty towards the working class of the time, revolts ideal of and accompanied by revenge were instilled upon the urban poors psyche. Point of view of Howells The Rise of Silas Lapham by W.D. Howells portrays the societal views of discrimination during the Gilded era. Furthermore, it highlights the changing roles of women in the context of traditional society, consequently partitioning rights unto feminists. W.D. Howells The Rise of Silas Lapham is a story about the materialist rise of an American man through the establishment of his fortune upon his fathers discovery of a vast amount of mineral grade. The narrative focuses on the societal differences distinctively acknowledged by both newly-rich and old-rich milieu. In addition, the book draws attention to the clashing and shifting of moral and financial profits of the newly-rich and the substantial growth of the old-rich society. The newly-rich social order has managed to rise above the old-rich yet still far less in culture and manners. on the other hand, it was the refinement and social sophistication that the old-rich tries and ventures to maintain. Howells’ protagonists The storys protagonist, Silas, despite being a man of affluence, still happens to possess no social standard typical of the rich ones. He still further finds it difficult to adjust his and his familys lifestyle into the new realm of wealth they have in their newfound place. Seemingly, this first and foremost conflict brought about by his sudden rise in the social class, puts him into a victims shoe during the Gilded age. Consequently, the blinding actuality of luxury and wealth deprives Silas of the notion of morality. Silas Lapham tries to attain such a social standard through the venture of having his two daughters marry an elite class from the Aristocratic family of the Corey. This particular area of the novel, however tracks down Silas fatality as a businessman. Apparently the distinct division or societal strata imposed upon by the time significantly poses the realist and materialist subjugation of Silas Lapham towards the nature and effects of the Gilded age. Archetypal of the Gilded age was the height of economic prowess among the people of America and the relocations to other places by the rich. This immigration flight is paralleled to Silas Laphams immediate acquisition of wealth and his familys resettlement to Boston. Subsequently, such reposition corrupted Silas Lapham of his previous moral obligations as seen on the first chapter of the book.   We quote a passage from the book most which most illustrative,   â€Å"she [mother] was a little frail thing, not bigger than a good-sized intermediate school-girl but she did the whole work of a family of boys, and boarded the hired men besides. Silas’ mother was depicted as frail yet did all the housework alone including taking care of the hired men. And still she managed to have time for church and teach her sons to read the Bible (Howells, 1993). Silas’ mother was good but apparently, the image and picture of a mother did not in anyway affected Silas. This despite the imagery which was highlighted by Howells wherein Silas narrated or viewing her mother kneeling while in a church service and it reminded him of his mother cleaning him up for bed on her knees washing his dirty feet. An non-immutable class Evidently, Silas at a younger age seemed to have a manner of neglect on his mothers moral inculcations while running bare all day and having then the luxury of being fixed decent for bed by his mother. This same attitude exuded by Silas appears to be distinguished upon his sudden fortune. Drowned in luxury, he administered his business in paint and ignored the goodwill of being such a business-oriented individual during the time. Furthermore, Silas Laphams extravagant objective of entering the class-above through the marriage of one of his daughters to Tom Corey, a wealthy Aristocrat in the truest sense, signaled the downfall of his entrepreneurship. This fall is significant also to the constituents of the Gilded Era. Howells’ prose is full of powerful imageries hence the book is not so a discourse but a depiction of the fundamental conflict which gave the Gilded Era its characteristic trait. Thus adversity is a friend but it took away the hope of a social success.   Wealth made the new rich but it is no guarantee of social acceptance. Hence redemption is through failure, a return to the fundamental trait and character.   Manhood to Howells’ Lapham was taken away by prosperity but prosperity was the alpha and the omega of the Gilded Age. Emptiness could be the thematic running through the lines of The Rise of Silas Lapham (Howells, 1993). This part of the book correlates the failure of Silas to belong and be among the respected class in his society. Despite the fat that Silass daughter Penelope, had accepted the marriage proffered by Tom Corey, it is evident that such means of penetrating the upper classs culture still is not enough to sustain his grasp from fortune. This could be due to the fact that the Coreys and Laphams are incongruent in class. Tom Corey could not let go of his class, could not betray class loyalty as if class is something permanent. We could see this on a passage of Howells depicting the feeling of Corey on their basic difference with Lapham. Howells offered an insight to the psyche of the aristocrat. Corey deliberated snubbed Lapham by going into the larger office, a symbolic place unreachable to Lapham.   In this scene, Corey was furious at Lapham for no other reason than culture as this passage described, â€Å"he thought of him the night before in the company of those ladies and gentlemen, and he quivered in resentment of his vulgar, braggart, uncouth nature (Howells, 1993).† The question of class of being born into was delved further by Howell. He explored allegiance to the â€Å"exclusiveness to which he was born and bred, as a man perceives his duty to his country when her rights are invaded (Howells, 1993).† The seeming innocence of Lapham, the simplicity of his social breeding has made the Corey character detest not Lapham personally but what he represents. Thus this passage of Howells depicting such social conflict connected pride, social traditions, suppressed emotions and feelings in the persona of Corey, we quote thus, â€Å"the stings and flashes of his wounded pride, all the social traditions, all the habits of feeling, which he had silenced more and more by force of will during the past months, asserted their natural sway, and he rioted in his contempt of the offensive boor, who was even more offensive in his shame than in his trespass (Howell, 1993).† As a matter of speaking in fact, one can view this attitude of Tom towards Lapham as the truth behind every breed man, that you can take an individual from his class, but you cannot take the class itself from the individual. Rather interrogating the value of his class as Why are there effective markers designated to delineate each class? Tom simply stitched himself up with his classs doctrine to have a delineation or barrier among other classes. This mindset was among the Gilded Ages contribution to American vista and notion of social stratification, unmistakably portrayed in W.D. Howells The Rise of Silas Lapham. As a player in the said age of mental framework, Silas, nevertheless, have been sightless of the potential features and indication of his forthcoming downfall. Because of being at hand with invariable riches, and mentally bolstered to acquire even more, Silas had failed to point the rationalities of his actions. He made his purchased wealth as the object of his desires, thus, casting a victimized light upon the identity of Silas himself. The way it began, hope for change To further apprehend the casualty on Silas Laphams life, we point the fall of his business and his suppression to bankruptcy. Moreover, we can aim at the abrupt shift of control over his household as he turned ill. His wife, Peris has to slot in as to what had befallen the business and run the household herself. This instance indicates the strength cultivation and advancement of women in the society. In general, the Gilded Era has been portrayed by W.D. Howell in his book The Rise of Silas Lapham. The typical recurrences of events, social state of mind and the distinction of classes of the time as participated by Silas in the story envelopes well the idea of how people have geared and approached the materialism of the present time. References Herring, R. (2005-12-05 ). The Business of Marriage in The Rise of Silas Lapham (Publication. Retrieved 20 July 2007: http://locus.cwrl.utexas.edu/herring/node/9 Howells, W. D. (1983). The Rise of Silas Lapham : Penguin Books. THE RISE OF SILAS LAPHAM by William Dean Howells Library of America PB (Publication.: http://cgi.ebay.com/The-Rise-Of-Silas-Lapham-by-William-Dean-Howells-1991_W0QQitemZ160138548936QQihZ006QQcategoryZ377QQcmdZViewItem (Publication. Retrieved 20 July 2007: http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~de271296/SilasLapham.htm (Publication. Retrieved 20 July 2007: http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/jb/gilded (Publication. Retrieved 20 July 2007: http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/modules/gilded_age/index.cfm (Publication retrieved 20 July 2007: http://infomotions.com/etexts/gutenberg/dirs/etext94/silap10.htm (Publication retieved 20 July 2007: http://locus.cwrl.utexas.edu/herring/node/9