Interpretation of the Fragment from the Novel «Vanity Fair»

Interpretation of the Fragment from the Novel «Vanity Fair»

by W.M. Thackeray

William Makepeace Thackeray was an English novelist of the 19^th century, famous for his satirical works, particularly «Vanity Fair», a panoramic portrait of the English society.

The term «Vanity Fair» originates from the allegorical story «The Pilgrim’s Progress», published in 1678 by John Bunyan where there is a town fair held in a village called Vanity.

The novel is a satire of the society as a whole, characterized by hypocrisy and opportunism, but it is not a reforming novel; there is no suggestion that social or political changes, or greater piety and moral reformism could improve the nature of the society. It thus paints a fairly bleak view of the human condition, which is continued with Thackeray’s own role as an omniscient narrator, one of the writers best known for using the technique.

«Vanity Fair» is often called a novel without a hero and without a plot. In the novel Thackeray attracts the readers’ attention to the most common vices of the society – money-worship, reverence for ranks and titles, hypocrisy, cruelty and corruption. The narration as carried out in the third person, presented by the observer-author, so that the narrator’s thoughts and ideas don’t interfere with the reader’s ones.

In the extract the action is set in Rebecca’s house, the author tells us about the woman’s relationships with her son, Rawdon, who loves his mother, but doesn’t get any love in return; and the incident when the mother punishes the boy, beating him, which separates them completely. The reader also gets to know about Rebecca’s relations with the servants, who support the little boy and blame the woman for her behaviour.

The main characters of the excerpt are Rawdon and his mother Rebecca, the author uses both direct and indirect forms of characterisation.

The extract can be divided into two logically connected parts, the first part concerns the depiction of Rawdon, his way of life and Rebecca’s role in it. The second one is devoted to the description of the event, after which the boy changes his attitude to the mother.

In the first part Rawdon is described directly as the author himself names the boy’s features: he is generous and soft at heart with flaxen hair, which points at his innocence; and indirectly, through his appearance and actions. He fondly attaches himself to all who are good to him – to the pony – to Lord Southdown – to the groom – to the cook – and to his father especially. The enumeration begins with the pony and end with the father, which produces a humorous effect. Besides, the graphical stylistic device – the dashes – symbolize the author’s idea to underline the importance of these people and things in the boy’s life.

So, we get to know that the boy is attached to practically everyone in the house except his mother, who also doesn’t pay much attention to her son. Molly, the cook, crams him with ghost stories at night, and with good things from the dinner, - the zeugma employed by the author makes the idea more prominent. The beautiful mother-vision fades away after a while, for nearly two years she scarcely speaks to the child, even more, the author writes directly that Rebecca dislikes the boy and that he bores her as he has the measles and the hoping-cough. This rather shocking detail clearly shows the mother’s attitude to her son and characterizes Rebecca as an unfeeling person. What is more, judging by her indifference to her own child, the reader can presume that Rebecca doesn’t love children at all, which is probably the result of her relations with the parents in her own childhood.

When the woman discovers that Rawdon overhears her singing to Lord Steyne, she strikes him violently a couple of boxes on the ear. After that he flees down below to his friends of the kitchen, bursting into an agony of grief. The reader feels sorry for the boy, who just wants his mother to pay more attention to him, show some love he lacks; the metaphor used brings this idea to life. Even with his problems he comes to the servants who are much closer and more attentive and sympathetic to him. He wants to share his feelings with his friends, but sobs and tears wind up the sentence in a storm, the hyperbole employed here and the repetition of the word «only» while he is sobbing suggest that Rawdon is so overwhelmed with emotions that it is difficult for him to speak and he can’t even finish the sentence. It is the little boy’s heart that is bleeding. He suffers greatly, because like any other child he longs to have the mother who will console and help him if necessary, Rebecca, on the contrary, hurts him and makes him cry. She never loved her son, but after this incident her dislike increases to hatred; the consciousness that the boy is in the house is a reproach and a pain to her. His very sight annoys her. The author’s words make it clear that the boy becomes an obstacle on Rebecca’s way, she has some other things to taker care of, things she considers much more important than bringing up her son. Striving to higher society, she has the aim to become rich and to get a title; she tries to behave like a person belonging to the upper class, and she forgets about everything else, even her child. All this reveals the conflict the plot of the extract rests upon – man against man, Rawdon and his values in life – love and care – against Rebecca’s ones, which are money and a social position.

More than that, Rebecca’s behaviour arouses negative emotions among her servants, who seem to be involved in the life of the family. The boy gasps exclamations of rage and grief, and the awful kitchen inquisition which sits in judgment in every house and knows everything – sits on Rebecca at this moment. Such words as «inquisition» and «judgment» help to create an ironical effect and emphasize the idea that the servants are ready to criticize their master and to pass sentence on her. They blame Rebecca for being so heartless and for thinking only of her position, and feel sorry for Rawdon, which discloses another outer conflict – the one between masters and servants.

The language of the extract is quite emotional, the author’s use of the vocabulary from different spheres of life and some types of stylistic devices, for example the grammar stylistic device – the deliberate mistakes in the boy’s speech («why main’t I hear her singing? Why don’t she ever sing to me?») make the story sound rather realistic and natural.

The atmosphere of the extract is a bit ironical at the very beginning, but raises to dramatic when the reader observes the boy’s sufferings and the mother’s indifference towards her own child.

The message which can be drawn from the extract is that when a woman becomes a mother she has responsibility for her child, she must take care of him under all the circumstances and prevent him from sufferings and disappointments. The child should become the main person in the life of the mother. In the extract Thackeray describes another type of the woman, who is under total influence of the society. So, on the one hand, the author depicts the vices of people of that time, for whom titles and money meant a lot and were of great importance, and, on the other hand. Shows the attitude the woman should not have to her child.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-04