Chapter XX explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Marriage and Family Dynamics

  The Corey family grapples with Tom's choice of Penelope, revealing tensions between parental expectations and filial love.

• Social Class and Mobility

  Bromfield Corey's distaste for the Laphams highlights class prejudice and the discomfort of social mixing.

• Honesty and Deception

  The love triangle involves emotional deception, while Lapham's business dealings raise questions of honesty and responsibility.

Characters to notice

• Tom Corey

  Confesses his love for Penelope Lapham to his mother, showing anxiety and relief.

• Mrs. Corey

  Struggles with her dislike of Penelope and the Laphams, but supports her son's choice.

• Bromfield Corey

  Reacts with ironic humor to the love triangle, comparing it to a romance or second marriage.

• Silas Lapham

  Discusses his business troubles with Milton Rogers, defending his past actions.

• Mrs. Lapham

  Questions Lapham's responsibility for Rogers' decline, showing moral concern.

• Milton K. Rogers

  Mentioned in Lapham's discussion about a failed business deal involving the G.L. & P. mills.

Key passages

• “all will go merry as a marriage bell—a second marriage bell. Why, it’s quite like a romance!”

  Everything will turn out happily, like a second marriage; it's just like a romantic story.

  Bromfield Corey's ironic prediction about the resolution of the love triangle.

• “The whole Lapham tribe is distasteful to me.”

  I find the entire Lapham family unpleasant.

  Bromfield Corey expresses his class-based aversion to the Laphams.

• “I want you should ask yourself whether Rogers would ever have gone wrong, or got into these ways of his, if it hadn’t been for your forcing him out of the business when you did.”

  I want you to consider if Rogers would have become dishonest if you hadn't pushed him out of the company.

  Mrs. Lapham questions her husband's moral responsibility for Rogers' decline.