Mr. Lapham Character Analysis in Johnny Tremain

Mr. Lapham is Johnny’s elderly master. He’s extremely religious (in addition to training his apprentices to work silver, he also takes a keen interest in their religious education) and an avowed Tory. In his old age, he relies on Johnny to take notes on customers’ orders and basically run the shop. Meanwhile, he spends much of his time sleeping or reading his Bible. Though he was once a fine silversmith, Mr. Lapham now mostly works on simple projects that keep money flowing through the shop without being too technically challenging. So, it’s shocking for Johnny when John Hancock visits the shop with a cream pitcher that Mr. Lapham made years ago, asking for Mr. Lapham to recreate the matching sugar basin. Mr. Lapham is able to work on the intricate basin, shocking Johnny. But Johnny is even more shocked and angry when Mr. Lapham, angry with Johnny for being prideful and cruel to Dove, refuses to let Johnny work on the basin, meaning it won’t be done in time. Johnny burns his hand when he defies Mr. Lapham and works on Sunday to try to complete the basin. Mr. Lapham dies about a year after Johnny burns his hand and leaves the Lapham house.

Mr. Lapham Quotes in Johnny Tremain

The Johnny Tremain quotes below are all either spoken by Mr. Lapham or refer to Mr. Lapham. 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:

Fetching water, sweeping, helping in the kitchen, tending the annealing furnace in the shop were the unskilled work the boys did. Already Johnny was so useful at the bench he could never be spared for such labor. It was over a year since he had carried charcoal or a bucket of water, touched a broom or helped Mrs. Lapham brew ale. His ability made him semi-sacred. He knew his power and reveled in it. He could have easily made friends with stupid Dove, for Dove was lonely and admired Johnny as well as envied him. Johnny preferred to bully him.

Related Characters: Johnny Tremain, Dove, Mr. Lapham, Mrs. Lapham, Dusty Miller

Page Number and Citation: 4-5

Explanation and Analysis:

He sat at his own bench, before him the innumerable tools of his trade. The tools fitted into his strong, thin hands: his hands fitted the tools. Mr. Lapham was always telling him to give God thanks who had seen fit to make him so good an artisan—not to take it out in lording it over the other boys. That was one of the things Johnny ‘did not let bother him much.’

Related Characters: Johnny Tremain, Dove, Mr. Lapham

Page Number and Citation: 8

Explanation and Analysis:

Mr. Lapham Character Timeline in Johnny Tremain

The timeline below shows where the character Mr. Lapham appears in Johnny Tremain. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...shouting for Johnny to get Dove and Dusty up. The three boys are apprenticed to Mr. Lapham , Mrs. Lapham’s elderly father in law—and though Johnny is 14, two years younger than... (full context)

Johnny leads the way down the ladder. Mr. Lapham is still in his bedroom reading the Bible, and in the other bedroom, Mrs. Lapham’s... (full context)

...then unlocks the silver shop himself. As he picks up his tools, he thinks of Mr. Lapham warning him to thank God for making him such a skilled artisan, rather than lording... (full context)

2. Elderly Mr. Lapham sits at the head of the table at breakfast. When the meal is over, he... (full context)

...Though Johnny tries to be humble, he fails miserably. This is in part because while Mr. Lapham is a fine silversmith, he never writes down orders or listens to customers’ requests—so Johnny... (full context)

...to Dove and Dusty to look busy, and then focuses on recording Mr. Hancock’s requirements. Mr. Lapham doesn’t acknowledge when Mr. Hancock pulls out the cream pitcher that the new sugar basin... (full context)

Patriotism and the Revolutionary War Theme Icon

The men reminisce about Mr. Lapham making the original set 40 years ago, and then Mr. Hancock asks if Mr. Lapham... (full context)

4. It’s oppressively hot by midday. Mr. Lapham spent the morning working but now, he’s napping. Without him around, Dove and Dusty have... (full context)

...Johnny tells Cilla about his mother, who died a week before Johnny was apprenticed to Mr. Lapham . He adored his mother, and she wanted Johnny to work hard and be something.... (full context)

1. The hot July week wears on. Johnny regularly lets Mr. Lapham sleep for an hour after dinner, then he wakes him up and makes him work.... (full context)

...He must finish the basin soon; it’s illegal to work on Sunday. After Saturday dinner, Mr. Lapham stretches out in the shop’s armchair as Johnny insults Dove and Dusty. Dove announces that... (full context)

At this, Mr. Lapham stirs and sends Dove outside so he can speak to Johnny. Johnny is so determined... (full context)

...along the wharf and notices John Hancock. He never did get his sugar basin; when Mr. Lapham found out that Johnny broke the Sabbath, he melted the basin, returned the cream pitcher,... (full context)

One day, Mr. Lapham leads Johnny to a bench outside. He’s said nothing about Johnny’s Sabbath-breaking. But today, he... (full context)

Mr. Lapham continues that Johnny is welcome to keep loitering and swimming, as long as he does... (full context)

1. Weeks pass and Johnny continues to wander Boston. Though Mr. Lapham asked Johnny to ask masters for work politely, Johnny is too impatient and scornful. He... (full context)

...peering at Salt Lane through a spyglass. This is where the Boston Observer is published; Mr. Lapham calls the paper “wicked,” as it tries to get people to revolt against England. The... (full context)

...Lapham is annoyed and accuses him of stealing his shoes. Once she’s gone to tell Mr. Lapham , Dorcas and Madge escape: they’re both in love with Frizel, Junior and want to... (full context)

...to sneak in, but Mrs. Lapham calls him into the kitchen. There, she says that Mr. Lapham won’t let her kick Johnny out, but he has to move back to the attic.... (full context)

...Mr. Lyte announces that he sent Sewall to the Laphams’ earlier; Johnny was signed to Mr. Lapham as “Johnny Tremain,” not “Jonathan Lyte Tremain.” Mrs. Lapham also insisted that Johnny owned nothing,... (full context)

...burned his hand. He can barely remember how it felt to hate Dove so strongly. Mr. Lapham recently died. Johnny remembers the man fondly, and even Mrs. Lapham doesn’t seem so bad... (full context)

...eye is how happy Miss Lavinia is—and that Isannah is wearing only her undershift. Knowing Mr. Lapham would be spinning in his grave, Johnny tells Isannah to get dressed; she was raised... (full context)