Analysis of Vanity Fair

Analysis of “Vanity Fair”

William Makepeace Thackeray was an English author, novelist and satirist of 19^th century. He gained international fame and popularity for his novel Vanity Fair.

It was first published in 1847. This novel satirizes society in early 19^th-century Britain.

I have analyzed a piece of 44^th chapter from Vanity Fair. It is about little Rawdon, who is a fine-opened face boy, fondly attaching himself to all who are good to him, but not to his mother. One day he desires to listen to her mother, Rebecca, singing, but when she notices him, she strikes him a couple of boxes on the ear; he runs to his friends of the kitchen, servants, to find consolation there. Lord Steyne, Rebecca’s lover, also heartily dislikes Rawdon and the boy considers him as an enemy. The kitchen inquisition sits on Rebecca in judgment and knows everything about her. The secret trial of the servants’ hall pronounces against her if she is guilty or not.

This text presents a narration as well as direct and indirect descriptions. The narration is presented in such lines as “The cook looked at the housemaid, the housemaid looked knowingly at the footman”, “After this incident, the mother’s dislike increased to hatred”, “And soon afterwards, […], the porter who unbarred the gates, the servants of all uniforms in the hall, the functionaries in white waistcoats, […], knew about her”. The direct description is the process by which the personality of a character is revealed by the use of descriptive adjectives, phrases, or epithets such as “fine”, “open-faced”, “generous and soft in heart” and so on. The indirect description is the process by which the personality of a character is revealed through the character's speech (e.g. “It is not because it hurts me, […], only… only”), actions (e.g. “His mother came out and struck him violently a couple of boxes in the ear.”), appearance (e.g. “He was a […]with blue eyes and waving flaxen hair”), etc. In addition, the author digresses from the narration throughout the entire novel, using direct address (e.g. “Madam, your secret will be talked over”) and the second person pronoun (e.g. “If you are guilty, tremble.”).

This text can be divided in to three parts. First part ends with the words “He bored her” and the second one ends with the words “… the large gentleman in motley-coloured clothes at his side”.

• The first part is full of epithets as it describes the appearance and character of the boy “He was a fine open-faced boy, with blue eyes and waving flaxen hair, sturdy in limb, but generous and soft in heart, fondly attaching himself to all who were good to him”. The innumeration of Rawdon’s attachments, presenting in the reverse way, – “to the pony – to the groom […] – to Molly, the cook, […] – to Briggs […] and to his father especially […]” helps in creating a humorous effect. Moreover, there is an indirect description of Rebecca: “She disliked him [the child]. … He bored her.” These sentences reveal Rebecca as a hard-hearted and ill-natured woman, who despises her child and who is indifferent to him. Thackeray tries to induce sympathy to the boy in the readers and make them feel sorry for him.

• The second part describes the series of events happening with little Rawdon. His mother gives him a couple of boxes on the ear, because he has been listening to her singing. There is another indirect description of Rebecca, which proves her barbarity and callousness. She deeply offends her son with “this free and artless exhibition of Becky’s temper”, as author says, which confirms that it is easily for her to strike the boy. It is said, “It was the little boy’s heart that was bleeding”. To place “it is” or “it was” before the member of the sentence is a common device to achieve emphasis that is to be accentuated. There is a kitchen inquisition, which sits in every house in judgment and knows everything, now sits on Rebecca. In the line “The cook looked at the housemaid; the housemaid looked knowingly at the footman […]” parallelism is used. Parallel constructions are often accompanied by the repetition of one or more words. The sameness of the structure and vocabulary accentuates the fact that everyone in the servants’ quarters was drawn into gossip. There is also reference to Lord Steyne, Rebecca’s lover, who “also heartily disliked the boy”, as Thackeray says. This extract is full of anger, hatred and spite, and all the characters are on the field of war.

• The third part is a digression of the text. The first sentence of this part is “Bon Dieu! it is awful, that servants’ inquisition!”. Thackeray here digresses from the narration expressing his views on contemporary society. Here the author comments on the events described, reflects in the vices of the bourgeois world, expresses his philosophical views on life. In this extract, there is a description of the servants’ hall, and Thackeray uses metonymy, the transfer of the name of one object to another with which it is in some way connected, in the sentence “Discover walks respectfully up to her […] – with Calumny […] behind him […]”. The abstract nouns ‘discovery’ and ‘calumny’ are used instead of the names of the persons who were the living embodiments of these vices, who were engaged in slander (calumny), in discovering the particulars of other people’s life. Also digression from the text is expressed with the use of direct address and the second person pronoun, involving the reader into the events of the book and lending a greater generalizing force to the passage. It is used in the sentences “Madam, your secret will be talked over […]” and “If you are guilty, tremble. […] If you are not guilty, have a care of appearances […]”.