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The Rise of Silas Lapham · Theme
Gender Roles and Women's Place
How The Rise of Silas Lapham develops Gender Roles and Women's Place.
The novel portrays women's limited roles—as wives, mothers, and objects of courtship—while characters like Penelope and Mrs. Lapham demonstrate intelligence and moral agency within those constraints.
Where it surfaces
- Chapter XXVI
Mrs. Lapham's exclusion from her husband's business and her reaction to the female clerk illustrate the era's gendered expectations and anxieties.