The Rise of Silas Lapham · Chapter
Chapter VIII explained
Mrs.
What happens
Mrs. Corey returns to Boston and discusses with her husband Bromfield their son Tom's decision to join Silas Lapham's paint business. She expresses her unease about the social implications and her concerns about Tom's potential involvement with the Lapham family, particularly the daughters. Bromfield Corey offers a more philosophical perspective, accepting the venture as a practical necessity.
Themes in this chapter
Social Class and Mobility
Mrs. Corey's discomfort with Tom joining Lapham's business highlights the tension between old Boston aristocracy and newly wealthy industrialists.
Morality and Business Ethics
Tom asserts he would rather starve than touch dirty money, while Bromfield Corey questions the stigma attached to honest earnings from paint.
Marriage and Family Dynamics
The Coreys discuss Tom's future marriage prospects, with Mrs. Corey worried about a potential match with Irene Lapham.
Appearance vs. Reality
Mrs. Corey's perception of the Laphams as 'good people' contrasts with her underlying social prejudice and concern for appearances.
Characters to notice
- Mrs. Corey
Returns to Boston from Bar Harbour, discusses Tom's business decision with her husband, expresses social anxiety about the Laphams.
- Bromfield Corey
Receives his wife at breakfast, offers a detached and philosophical view on Tom's involvement with Lapham's paint business.
- Tom Corey
Has spent his first day at Lapham's office, is in good spirits, and defends his decision to his mother.
- Silas Lapham
Discussed indirectly; Tom talks paint with him, and he is the subject of the Coreys' conversation about business and social standing.
- Penelope Lapham
Mentioned as the older, plain sister who reads Middlemarch and has a humorous, droll way of looking at things.
- Irene Lapham
Mentioned as the pretty sister with a wonderful complexion, though Tom's response is evasive.
- James Bellingham
Referenced as having advised Tom on the business decision, and Mrs. Corey expresses confusion over his approval.
Key passages
“The living, as the country people call it, is tremendously good. The Colonel—he's a colonel—talked of the coffee as his wife's coffee, as if she had personally made it in the kitchen, though I believe it was merely inspired by her. And there was everything in the house that money could buy. But money has its limitations.”
Tom describes the Laphams' lavish hospitality and material wealth, but notes that taste cannot be bought.
Highlights the theme of social class and the limitations of new money.
“I shouldn't at all mind its having a little mineral paint on it. I'll use my influence with Colonel Lapham—if I ever have any—to have his paint scraped off the landscape.”
Tom jokes that he doesn't mind the paint business and would try to minimize its visual impact.
Shows Tom's pragmatic and lighthearted attitude toward the business.
“We represent a faded tradition. We don't really care what business a man is in, so it is large enough, and he doesn't advertise offensively; but we think it fine to affect reluctance.”
Bromfield Corey admits that the old aristocracy pretends to be above commerce while secretly accepting it.
Reveals the hypocrisy in upper-class attitudes toward business.
