Structural Transformation in The Rise of Silas Lapham free essay sample

An examination of William Dean Howells novel The Rise of Silas Lapham. This paper analyzes the structural symmetry of the opening and closing scenes in The Rise of Silas Lapham by William Dean Howells in order to demonstrate the moral change that Silas Lapham has undergone. The author uses the opening and closing interviews to explore the deeper aspects of Silas morality and identity. The author also makes use of various critical reviews. The structural symmetry, which appears in the opening and closing scenes in The Rise of Silas Lapham, provides a lens through which the true transformation of Silas Lapham can be viewed. The two scenes, which both involve an interview with Colonel Lapham concerning his solidity, mirror each other in order to demonstrate the moral change that Silas has undergone. The novel is an exchange between beginnings and endings, for Silas must eventually fall in order to rise. The financial risen but morally fallen man portrayed in the opening interview becomes the morally risen but financially fallen man in the closing interview. We will write a custom essay sample on Structural Transformation in The Rise of Silas Lapham or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Thus, as Wai-Chee Dimock states in , The Economy of Pain, What makes Laphams fictive trajectory possible is a crucial and animating process of exchange: an exchange between beginnings and endings, between what he starts out with and what he ends up with (Dimock 82-83). Given this perspective, it is then essential to analyze Laphams transformation through the parallel exchange between the opening and closing scenes.