Penelope is deeply confused by this confession of Tom's, particularly because she knows that her younger sister is madly in love with him.
Penelope and Irene both have feelings for Tom, and though it seems initially that Tom is interested in the more beautiful and younger Irene, he eventually confesses that he has feelings for Penelope, who is plain looking but intelligent, witty, and well-read.
As the house continues to be built, many things start to go wrong. Persis warns Silas that if he wants Tom to marry either of his daughters they should not be in business together, but Silas ignores his wife's warning. Tom, from a blue-blood Boston family, has never had to work – Silas's middle-class roots eventually influence Tom, who decides to go into business with Silas by selling paint in Europe for him. Rogers makes it clear that he thinks Silas's house is being built with “blood money” and denounces the family.Īt the building site, Silas, Penelope, and Irene meet Tom Corey, a wealthy young man who becomes interested immediately in both of the sisters. Rogers, who helped Silas start up his business and whom Silas promptly dropped. On one trip to the Beacon Hill building site, Penelope, Irene, and Silas run into Silas's former business partner, Mr. He begins to build a home on Beacon Hill because, according to everyone in town, it is “the place to build,” but immediately his naïveté is clear to contractors, who try to convince him to spend all his new money on unnecessary additions to the home. Though Silas now has the money to afford life in Boston for himself and his two daughters, intelligent and fastidious Penelope and beautiful, frivolous young Irene, he doesn’t feel that he fits in with the elite people of the city. Then the family discovered a paint mine on their farm, and Silas went into the paint business – the family made incredible amounts of money very quickly selling paint, moved to Boston, and began to build a house on Beacon Hill. This section introduces the background of the Lapham family – Silas and his wife, Persis, lived for many years on a New England farm, comfortably middle class though occasionally struggling to make ends meet.
Silas is being interviewed about his newfound wealth by a seedy journalist. The book is centered on Silas's morality and a realistic portrayal of American life – for this reason, Howells is often referred to as the father of American Realism. Howells wrote the novel in opposition to sentimental romantic novels of the time. 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.
0 kommentar(er)
