ke the connection, as to why Silas must stake his business to save his morals, or stake his morals to save his business. The central characters are steadily satirized for their foibles and stupidities, but at the same time they are all given a strong sense of responsibility and a feeling for decency (Carrington 78). The Rise of Silas Lapham is reassuring in some ways–the central characters are silly, but decent–and troubling in others–the world they live in is not a secure place. The Coreys build themselves a complete, graceful world, apparently based on solid investments and the hope of proper marriage for their children. But the investments mysteriously shrink; their daughters are homely and unsought; and their adored son marries the pert offspring of a Paint King. Lapham also builds what he believes is a complete, safe world; but he himself destroys part of it out of vanity (his lavish house), guilt (his clumsy retributory involvements with his ex-partner), and carelessness (he accidentally sets fire to the unfinished new house). The mysterious forces that rule the world take the rest: a depression weakens him, competitors crowd him, and the only bidders for his last bit of property are so obviously the devil’s emissaries that he refuses their offers and allows another financial group to swindle his interests away for him. Thus, the hubris in man and the malevolence in the world combine nicely to destroy mental structurings of reality (Carrington 78-79). The characters in the story try to control life; the harder they try and the more they need to keep their gains, the harder it is to keep what they have or to compress the spring more tightly; finally the situation escapes control, and life violently resumes its usual relaxed shapelessness (Carrington 79). Having lost his money and position, Silas is last seen pottering around the rocky family farm in northern Vermont; his shabby clothes suggest the c...
