He neglects the insurance of the house he is building. Social ambition leads Lapham into a series of mistakes and disasters, at first comical, then less so. Tellingly, the young man gains Lapham’s trust by declaring a passionate faith in the qualities of the paint: “I believe in it!” He is enormously flattered when a son of one of Boston’s leading families applies to him for a job - and then begins to court one of Lapham’s daughters. He commences work on a lavish house in the new Back Bay. He judges everything and everyone in relation to his paint.Īs he rises, Lapham becomes fascinated by his adopted city’s elusive high society. Paint becomes Lapham’s life and, despite nominal church attendance, his only religion. As we first encounter him, Lapham proudly estimates his own wealth at the talismanic figure of a million dollars. The paint establishes Lapham’s fortune: He moves to Boston and builds a flourishing business. Born on a homestead in Vermont, Lapham combines the minerals in his farm’s soil into a specially weather-resistant paint. Silas Lapham, the hero of William Dean Howells’ famous novel, The Rise of Silas Lapham, is a self-made man.
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