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Bromfield Corey
Anna is the wife of Bromfield and the mother of Tom, Nanny, and Lily. Her family has owned property in Boston for a long time, and she disdains newcomers like the Laphams, although she often tries to disguise this disdain under politeness. Anna is more set in her ways than Bromfield, and she often struggles to understand things like Penelope’s ironic sense of humor or why Tom likes Penelope. Anna represents old money and tradition, showing in particular how people in the aristocratic class can be slow to change.
Anna Corey Quotes in The Rise of Silas Lapham
The The Rise of Silas Lapham quotes below are all either spoken by Anna Corey or refer to Anna Corey. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 5 Quotes
“Ah, we shall never have a real aristocracy while this plebeian reluctance to live upon a parent or a wife continues the animating spirit of our youth.”
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Chapter 8 Quotes
“Oh! it’s in regard to the paint, and not the princess, that he’s made up his mind. Well, I think you were wise to let him alone, Anna. We represent a faded tradition. We don’t really care what business a man is in, so it is large enough, and he doesn’t advertise offensively; but we think it fine to affect reluctance.”
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Chapter 12 Quotes
“Well, don’t look so guilty, mother,” joked the girl; “you haven’t been doing anything so very wrong.”
“It seems as if I had. I don’t know what’s come over me. I wasn’t afraid of the woman before, but now I don’t seem to feel as if I could look her in the face.”
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Chapter 13 Quotes
Finally, all that dress-making in the house began to scare him with vague apprehensions in regard to his own dress. As soon as he had determined to go, an ideal of the figure in which he should go presented itself to his mind.
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Chapter 26 Quotes
“We never cared for the money,” said Mrs. Corey. “You know that.”
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Anna Corey Character Timeline in The Rise of Silas Lapham
The timeline below shows where the character Anna Corey appears in The Rise of Silas Lapham. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2
...society. Persis didn’t realize how unfashionable her family was until some visitors (the Corey women: Anna, Nanny, and Lily) started dropping hints about how their coachmen struggled to find the neighborhood....
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Chapter 6
At the Corey house, Tom tells his mother, Anna, about his plan to try to work with Lapham. Anna personally finds Lapham’s line of...
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Chapter 8
At their Boston home, Anna Corey sees her husband, Bromfield, at breakfast. She asks about Tom, and Bromfield says Tom...
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Anna thinks back to 30 years before, when Bromfield was a rich young painter that she...
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Bromfield tells Anna he’s hesitant to give Tom advice about his future because things could get awkward if...
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Anna asks Tom what the Laphams are like. Tom mentions how Penelope is a big reader...
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Chapter 12
Anna and the Corey daughters (Nanny and Lily) have been away from Boston for the summer,...
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Later, Anna tells Tom that she heard about Lapham and Bromfield’s meeting. Tom talks about the good...
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Anna makes a plan to go by herself to see the Laphams. When Persis gets Anna’s...
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Anna makes conversation with Penelope about how she must be happy about the new home Lapham...
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Anna struggles to come up with conversation topics. She says she was surprised to hear that...
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Irene comes back just in time to see Anna’s carriage going away. Penelope says sarcastically that they just had a very pleasant visit that...
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Anna reports back to Bromfield. She is convinced that Irene loves Tom and Persis knows it....
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Anna and Bromfield strategize for the dinner. Bromfield suggests inviting several other pretty girls to the...
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Chapter 13
Anna is sure she can get the Laphams to come to dinner, but she’s less sure...
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...be better to meet the Laphams in a smaller setting, with just the Coreys, but Anna insists that she wants to show the Laphams that she trusts them to be a...
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After thinking things over, however, Tom says he didn’t realize what Anna was saying earlier about the Laphams (which could imply that Tom is interested in an...
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...“General” Lapham (who was in fact just a colonel). Persis is surprised—she thought that when Anna visited earlier, she was trying to subtly insult the Laphams, but when Persis tries to...
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...doesn’t realize how seriously people like the Coreys take dinner invitations. Persis still wonders what Anna’s purpose for the dinner is—she isn’t sure how to talk to people like Anna. Still,...
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...just answered “no” for everyone. Persis thinks Penelope has picked up a strong dislike for Anna and is dead set on not going. But Lapham puts his foot down and says...
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Chapter 14
Anna and Bromfield have lived on their street, Bellingham Place, for a long time—and the house...
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Persis gets embarrassed when she has to explain to Anna that Penelope didn’t come. When Anna replies with just “O,” Persis feels it burn into...
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...their owners are away. He wonders why the poor don’t just break into the houses. Anna says you couldn’t let anyone into the empty houses because they’d probably ruin the furniture....
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Chapter 20
That evening, Tom tells Anna he needs to have a conversation with her about “Miss Lapham.” Anna says she’s not...
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...which sister he liked, even though he felt that he made his feelings very clear. Anna agrees, then starts talking about how it’s not possible that anyone could love someone as...
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Looking back, Anna supposes she did have moments where she doubted whether Tom liked Irene. She tells Tom...
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When Anna explains the situation to Bromfield later, his first reaction is just to laugh. He thinks...
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Anna knows that even though she went to Bromfield first, it’s her, Nanny, and Lily that...
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Chapter 23
...Lapham: In fact, he’d like to invest money in Lapham. Tom hasn’t told Bromfield or Anna, but he’s told his uncle, James Bellingham, about his plan. Lapham asks to speak with...
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Chapter 24
Anna and Bromfield consider Penelope’s latest letter. They agree Penelope is acting correctly, but Bromfield wonders...
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Chapter 26
...that Tom will soon be back. Indeed, the next morning at breakfast, Tom talks with Anna about how she should visit the Laphams again. Anna realizes that Tom is serious about...
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Tom explains to Anna how Penelope is worried about Lapham’s situation and that’s affecting any potential engagement plans. Anna...
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Chapter 27
...still tired from her journey and Persis is also unwell, so Penelope hosts Bromfield and Anna by herself. Both of them seem tense when Penelope first sees them, but by the...
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Anna tells Nanny and Lily that Bromfield seems to approve of Penelope. Meanwhile, Lapham comes back...
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