Wells, Gerald K. "The Phoenix Symbol in "The Rise of Silas
Lapham"" South Atlantic Bulletin 40.2 (1975): 10-14. JSTOR.
Web. 20 Sept. 2012.
Gerald Wells describes Silas Lapham’s ascent and defeat
as that of a phoenix. Despite the early realist writers’ reluctant use of
symbols, due to the desire to represent ideas through life events, The Rise of
Silas Lapham author Howells uses the phoenix to show realistic movement and
structure of death and rebirth. Silas goes through a continued cycle of life,
death and rebirth starting with his rise at the start of the novel and his
rebirth with a new life on his farm at the close. With each up and down, Silas’
social climb till the disastrous dinner party and burning of his new house or
his close relationship with his wife and advice to her moral fall and loss of
trust, Wells claims emphasizes this symbol. This illustrates a continued
possible hopeful outcome. The knowledge of restoration after a downfall is a
guide for life, novel structure, and a new addition to realism.
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