William Dean Howells's realistic fiction, The Rise of Silas Lapham, makes an unambiguous wade into the symbolic realm of literature in the first sentence of Chapter Four. The author designedly inserts an artfully metaphoric depiction of marriage after a scene in which the main characters, Mr. and Mrs. Lapham engage in an impassioned argument. Howells uses the unpleasant, yet not uncommon marital squabble as a sagacious segue into a revelation about his personal beliefs on the institution of marriage, as well as his fervor for realistic fiction. From the outset, the reader is pleasantly guided into a fairly straight-forward story of a man’s rise to riches through a passion for paint passed down by his father, but this chapter is notably different. …show more content…
In Criticism and Fiction, he writes: "I hope the time is coming when not only the artist, but the common, average man, who always 'has the standard of the arts in his power,' will have also the courage to apply it, and will reject the ideal grasshopper wherever he finds it, in science, in literature, in art, because it is not'simple, natural, and honest,' because it is not like a real grasshopper. But I will own that I think the time is yet far off, and that the people who have been brought up on the ideal grasshopper, the heroic grasshopper, the impassioned grasshopper, the self-devoted, adventureful, good old romantic card-board grasshopper, must die out before the simple, honest, and natural grasshopper can have a fair field." His portrayal of many character couples is an example of and testament to the importance of realism and the beauty of the marital relationship. Howells introduces readers to Silas Lapham’s less-than- lavish lifestyle and socially unrefined family in an engaging walk through their home, relationships and
Academic colleagues like, David Greenburg, would have been exasperated, part from envy of McCullough’s ability in not only story telling but to sell and he would object to the approach of this book. The colleagues would tear at the lack of compelling rationale for an overused topic, as well as the scene setting, and meager analysis.
In the Story “The Rise of Silas Lapham,” written by William Dean Howells, Silas’s desire to conform to the standards of society is the root of his company’s downfall but the rise of his understanding and morals. The society Silas is trying to feel accepted by is very judgmental and vain and do not care about others therefore making it very tough for the Laphams to be accepted or even feel somewhat normal where they are living. Persis is a significant character in the novel because in the end she is why Silas does the things he does because she bestowed good morals in him. The last attempts to fit in with the community is the building and destruction of the house. These are all very significant events to the story leading up to Silas last decisions.
It has long been contested that works of great Literature have certain qualities and that they belong to an exclusive canon of works. Value is placed upon them for a number of reasons, including their reflection of cultural or social movements, the special meaning they possess, and even their use of specific narrative elements. Up until recently, scholars and intellectuals would never dream of examining works of lower caliber with any hopes of discovering value or merit. A new movement within intellectual circles, however, has shifted focus onto so-called low-brow novels like Chester Himes’ If He Hollers Let Him Go and God’s Little Acre by Erskine Caldwell. Surprisingly enough, the works of Himes and Caldwell can be held up to the same tests as more canonical works through their appeal to ideological remnants of Romanticism and the Enlightenment, their use of literary devices to create meaning, and the narratives’ use of these devises to enhance the elements of enjoyment and pleasure in reading.
The Bedford Introduction to Literature. 5th edition. Boston & New York: Bedford/St. Martin's Press, 1999. http://www.martinspress 1564 - 1612 -.
In William Dean Howells’ novel, The Rise of Silas Lapham Silas is a very greedy selfish person who does not care about anything except climbing the social ladder. He has false social aspirations and his lust for power help his business to flourish as he rips people off and steels people’s money. As Silas begins to get higher and higher on the social ladder he begins to realize that his dreams are empty and have no real value as he achieves them. His greed and selfishness then come back to haunt him causing him to feel pain over things that he had done and while trying to rectify his wrongs he goes too far and fails his business. Silas Lapham’s character shift from selfish greed to honest unselfishness caused the collapse of his business and the loss of his money.
...nd dates to him.” “And the real inner workings of a marriage, like most history, have escaped him” (Mason 232). The story suggests that it is impossible to wrap our minds around abstractions such as war and marriage and that all we can do is understand how they relate to our own lives.
Stillinger, Jack, Deidre Lynch, Stephen Greenblatt, and M H. Abrams. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Volume D. New York, N.Y: W.W. Norton & Co, 2006. Print.
“Like a river flows so surely to the sea darling, so it goes some things are meant to be.” In literature there have been a copious amount of works that can be attributed to the theme of love and marriage. These works convey the thoughts and actions in which we as people handle every day, and are meant to depict how both love and marriage can effect one’s life. This theme is evident in both “The Storm” by Kate Chopin and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Gilman; both stories have the underlying theme of love and marriage, but are interpreted in different ways. Both in “The Storm” and in “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the women are the main focus of the story. In “The Storm” you have Calixta, a seemingly happy married woman who cheats on her husband with an “old-time infatuation” during a storm, and then proceeds to go about the rest of her day as if nothing has happened when her husband and son return. Then you have “The Yellow Wallpaper” where the narrator—who remains nameless—is basically kept prisoner in her own house by her husband and eventually is driven to the point of insanity.
Greenblatt, Stephen, and M. H. Abrams. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 9th ed. Vol. A. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. Print
“Everett was strange, “Sleight concedes. “kind of different. But him and McCandless, at least they tried to follow their dream. That’s what was great about them. They tried. Not many do.” (67) John Krakauer’s book, Into the Wild, briefly makes a comparison between two young boys Chris McCandless and Everett Ruess and fills the reader with different perspectives about them and their experiences. While the author wrote about McCandless he is reminded of Ruess and his book Everett Ruess: A Vagabond for Beauty written by W.L. Rusho and it sparked an interesting comparison between the two. The use of storytelling and letters about McCandless and the use of Artwork, letters,
The ultimate act of consummation between a man and a woman is depicted by Wright as the deepest and most profound expression of pure love that can be mutually partaken in by two fellow human beings. Such an event involves truly uniting the opposite polarities of human existence, male and female, in a selfless act that plays a crucial role in Woman To Man’s underlying interpretation of the human condition. There is an almost animalistic and primal yearning ingrained in the human condition for physical union between a man and woman, as exemplified by the juxtaposed symbolism of the male “hunter” and his prize, the “chase”, that he seeks. Such an attitude towards the physical facets of sexual passion is reinforced by the polysyndeton of “the strength that your arm knows, / the arc of flesh that is my breast, / the precise crystals of our eyes”, highlighting the magnitude of the bodily pleasure derived from this unification. However, there are clearly deeper and more emotionally significant ramifications arising internally, with the combined amorous fervour between male and female capable of producing an even greater gift, that of new life. The result...
Zender, Karl F. "The Politics of Incest." Faulkner and the Politics of Reading. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2002. 1-31. Rpt. in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Thomas J. Schoenberg and Lawrence J. Trudeau. Vol. 170. Detroit: Gale, 2006. Literature Resource Center. Web. 4 Feb. 2014.
The Bedford Introduction to Literature 4th ed. of the book. Boston: St. Louis St. Martin’s Press, 1996. 883-89.
While Howells' realism was "romantic" in that he permitted "respectability to censor his observations and insights" (Trachtenberg, 191) and allowed his characters to fall into the miasma of what he believed to ...
This paper will illustrate the moral, social, and factual implications of the Volkswagen scandal regarding the case dealing with the emissions standards of their diesel engine vehicles. The reader should note that this analysis is given from two different philosophical points of view. The philosophical perspectives being used here in this criteria are from the Kantian and Rule-Utilitarian ethics perspective. This paper will demonstrate the moral implications of the case, and how this applies to Mr. James Liang’s actions regarding ethical responsibility. Mr. Liang and his colleagues worked for Volkswagen to create a low emission diesel engine. In the course of the project, it was apparent that the emission goal could not be achieved. To circumvent this problem, Mr. Liang and his peers developed a software application to trick emission test. This situation was discovered, and on September 9th 2016 Mr. Liang pleaded guilty to the charges presented against him in Detroit Michigan. In the discourse below analysis will be given to determine the Kantian and Rule-Utilitarian basis on Mr. Liang’s situation.