The Revision of Hegemonic Masculinity in the Self-Made Man Myth: Focused on The Rise of Silas Lapham

My examination of The Rise of Silas Lapham by William Dean Howells assesses the ways in which the titular hero Lapham, an emblematic self-made man figure, represents the shifting constitution of hegemonic masculinity embodied in the self-made man. Early in the twentieth century, with colossal changes in the economic landscape, the values traditionally expected of the self-made man changed drastically. During that change, moral authority, which defined one’s character, and thus used to be an essential quality of the self-made man, gradually lost its significance. However, Howells revives the significance of moral authority in the self-made man. Despite the protagonist’s failure to assimilate into elite society, Lapham “rises,” as the title suggests. For Howells, then, it appears that moral authority is an essential element in demonstrating the protagonist’s worth and ultimately his manhood. Yet, the feminine connotation ascribed onto moral authority, which is associated with the upper class, complicates the protagonist’s construction of masculinity. The upper class utilized a variety of tactics to keep the privilege of defining hegemonic masculinity’s boundaries under their control because the definition of the dominant form of masculinity continuously changed. Thus, my examination of Lapham through the analytical lens of the self-made man and upward mobility demonstrates the shifting values associated with masculinity and femininity in the period spanning the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.