William Dean Howells' 19th-century novel follows Silas Lapham, a self-made paint manufacturer whose newfound wealth creates unexpected social and moral dilemmas for his family in Boston's elite circles. This realistic fiction explores the tensions between old money and new money in post-Civil War America, examining themes of integrity, social climbing, and personal values through the Lapham family's rise and struggles.
AFTER dropping Bartley Hubbard at the Events building, Lapham drove on down Washington Street to Nankeen Square at the South End, where he had lived ever since the mistaken movement of society in that direction ceased. He had not built, but had bought very cheap of a terrified gentleman of good extraction who discovered too late that the South End was not the thing, and who in the eagerness of his flight to the Back Bay threw in his carpets and shades for almost nothing. Mrs. Lapham was even better satisfied with their bargain than the Colonel himself, and they had lived in Nankeen Square for twelve years. They had seen the saplings planted in the pretty oval round which the houses were built flourish up into sturdy young trees, and their two little girls in the same period had grown into young ladies; the Colonel's tough frame had expanded into the bulk which Bartley's interview indicat…Continue reading →
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