Tom Jones –Oct16

Main Point:

<!--Published in the middle of the 18^th century and is central to the 18^th c novel.

<!--Fielding uses the central character, Tom Jones, to give an encyclopedic example of English culture of the time-similar to The Canterbury Tales, Ulysses, and Middlemarch

<!--Fielding and Richardson were rivals-example:  Shamela

Information about Characters:

<!--Squire Allworthy- widowed (no expectation that he will enter into sexual relationships within novel), wise, wealthy, good heart, owns a country estate (p. 85 Paradise Hall). His name and where he lives is reminiscent of a fairy tale-almost unreal. Flaws: can’t see the vices in others, naïve, too trusting which can lead him to rush to judgment on others

<!--Bridget:  Allworthy’s sister, not pretty, lots of suitors that really want Allworthy’s estate

<!--Captain Blifil: Not attractive, marries Bridget for money, disowns brother Dr. Blifil after he marries, he and Bridget loath each other after marriage, worries about Tom Jones as  possible heir, dies of a stroke (p99).

<!--Young Blifil: Son of Bridget and Captain Blifil, tattle tale, no passion except for himself,

<!--Black George: Game keeper, gets in trouble for poaching on Squire Western’s Land,

<!--Squire Western: drunk, loves to hunt, “booby squire”-good natured, unsophisticated , devoted to his daughter Sophia

<!--Sophia: Squire Western’s daughter, beautiful, set up as the heroin of the story (p. 134), introduction is much greater than the other charactersàsets her up as a character in a category of her own. Reminiscent of fairytale heroin foreshadows her and Tom Jones getting together

<!--Molly:  had Tom Jones’s bastard child, manipulative, wants money, tom boy,

<!--Thwackum and Square: tutors to Tom and Blifil. Thwackum is a clergyman whereas Square is a philosopher (deist) and they argue a lot, both hate Tom, both want Bridget. Helps introduce religious spectrum in the 18^th c.

<!--Jenny Jones: Tom Jones’s mother, intelligent, underdetermined

<!--Partridge: weak, beat up by wife, possible father of Tom Jones (but probably not)

<!--Tom Jones: mischievous but loyal, good intentions, impulsive and generous, lies to protect someone else, claims to be the father of bastard child with Molly (though possibly not his child), lacks prudence

<!--Narrator: very important character, always present, interjects himself and opinions, conducts a running theory on the novel itself, first chapter of every book is an essay on the novel, master of ceremonies, or host of a restaurant, companion on a journey

     Referent:

          Today we discussed the fact that Jenny Jones is an underdetermined character. A character is underdetermined when we are not given enough information about them to really understand their motives. With underdetermined characters, we cannot truly understand why they act the way they do, because we are not given enough information about their thought processes. This is opposed to an overdetermined characters which have so much attached to them that there's almost too much too account for. "Overdetermined" characters occur when there's some psychological construct that has multiple explanations or causes.

     Important Quotes and Close Reading:

     Page 99: These are the epigraph for Captain Blifil, and importantly, it says the stone is a monument to his wife's affections. This shows the true nature of the marriage, but it also is a great example of Fielding's humor.

     Page 134: The start of book IV is an elaborate forward before introducing Sophia. He does this because the narrator wants us to fall in love with her as he has fallen in love with her. As readers, we are supposed to tell from this special form of introduction that Sophia is in a different category than the other female characters in the story. She's framed in a classical way; this over-the-top introduction signals the reader that she's in a class of over-the-top beauty of her own. The narrator creates these new categories because throughout the story so far he's undercut all other conventional forms of beauty. An introduction of this kind also signals the reader that since Sophia is the heroine of the story and Tom is the hero, the two will end up together after facing several challenges (the first of which is Molly.)

     Page 54 and 56: Pay attention to moments where the narrator is keenly aware that he doesn't know everything. On 54, he doesn't know the true nature of Dr. Blifil's religion. On 56, the narrator says he doesn't know the exact motives of virtue. These quotations show examples of moments where the narrator is keenly aware that he's not omniscient.