paulamw 's review for:

Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

4.0

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Vanity Fair is a sprawling book, meandering throughout the British Empire and leaving no institution unscathed. Thackeray has no patience with the pompous, but neither does he glorify the common man and woman. The peripheral characters in the book portray archetypes of British society, the titled class, the gentry, the military, and the servants and shopkeepers. Through these characters Thackeray demonstrates the generalized hypocrisy of the society he calls Vanity Fair. It is with the main characters, however, that Thackeray examines the failings of human nature in detail. As the amoral status seeker, Becky Sharp is the extreme against which other characters may be measured. Becky’s behavior is inexcusable at every turn, and yet Thackeray is somewhat forgiving. It is clear that he does not expect anything better from Becky and views Becky’s scheming and betrayal as a survival technique. And she is very good at surviving. We are meant to contrast the kind and gentle Amelia with the outrageous Becky. Amelia grew up with all the advantages that Becky lacked, and when the time came that Amelia needed to deal with misfortune, she clearly did not have the spine to do so. Thackeray does not draw this comparison so broadly as to suggest that Becky’s behavior should be forgiven due to her circumstances and that Amelia is a weak and ineffective woman because of her privileged background, however he subtly creates questions in the reader’s mind about the influences that motivate each woman. If you read this book, look for the nuances and behaviors against type that strike a discordant note in what you think you are meant to believe about Becky and Amelia.