To be perfectly candid, I have to admit that I feel like a bit of an asshole. After finishing "The Rise of Silas Lapham" last night, I could not help but feel that the title was ironic: Silas Lapham doesn't rise, he falls! However, after today's discussion, I realize that my myopic conclusions about the text in relation to the novel's title overlook the possibility that "rises" are not limited to the monetary sort. Silas Lapham, and many of the novel's other characters, experience a moral uplift at the end of the story in the face of great material loss (and thus loss of class status as well) which is indeed a "rise" on its own accord. Not only do I feel somewhat materialistic for being blind to this possibility, I have to admit that my resolutions about the ending of the novel have greatly improved since our class discussion.
Ultimately, I am more satisfied by the novel now knowing that while Silas Lapham lost what money he had earned, the experience left him and his family vastly wealthier from a moral standpoint. To see Silas Lapham's fate as a tragedy is to deny his capacity for tenacity, vigor, and strength--faculties we know he possesses not only in the realm of business but at home in a more personal sphere as well. At first I saw Silas Lapham's return to his Lapham paint farm as a pitiable downgrade--Silas is right back at that proverbial square one after years of hard work and sacrifice. However, Silas's journey is anything but a futile failure. While he does return to his humble roots, it is not without immense personal growth and the recognition that the upper class, while seemingly glamorous is a morally debunk caste of exclusivity and wasted potential. Silas no longer can afford the luxuries he and his family had become used to, but his recognition of true morality and honest values is a triumph far more endearing and permanent than anything money can buy.
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