The Femme Fatale in American Literature By Ghada Sasa

The novel concludes with Mr. Lapham’s moral victory, and it also concludes with the realization that his wife has been a part of his moral decline. Only when he avoids her at the end of the novel is he able to make the right, moral decisions of not selling his worthless milling property to the English buyers and of not selling his paint works to a New York agent who is unaware of the declining market for Lapham’s mineral paint. The narrator informs us, “Lapham stole a troubled glance at his wife and saw that there was no hope in her” (269). When she tries to offer him advice about the two issues, he refuses to let her dominate him any more, telling her, “[She] couldn’t do any good” (271). This is the point when Mrs. Lapham’s student is finally able to make his own decisions without the interference of his teacher, Mrs. Lapham, hence the growth of Silas Lapham. He breaks free from his teacher.

The novel ends where it begins. In the beginning of the novel, we hear Mr. Lapham telling Bartley about their farm and the simple life they had previously enjoyed before the paint had been discovered and before the greed and manipulation of Mrs. Lapham grew. In the end, Mr. Lapham is back on the farm, leading a very simple life. In between the events, Mrs. Lapham plays a significant role in the financial catastrophes that happen to her husband. The reader does see Mrs. Lapham as a good person in many instances throughout the novel, yet she is partially responsible for the cascading series of financial disasters brought upon their family. Her misjudgment, hesitancy, greed, and lack of faith in her husband lead him to disastrous financial situations. He is able to recover once he finally refuses to allow her to interfere with his decisions. Therefore, he achieves a moral victory, and the ending of the novel is a happy one.

Another wife who plays a significant role in the downfall of her husband is Mrs. Adams in Booth Tarkington’s Alice Adams.