On Sunday, Aug. 9th, the Ann Arbor Classics Book Group met to discuss William Makepeace Thackeray's Vanity Fair. As a whole the group enjoyed this novel as both an entertaining and thought-provoking work of literature.

Summary

William Makepeace Thackeray sardonically critiques early 19th century high and not-so-high society. We follow the tales of two main characters, who act as foils for one another, Ms. Becky Sharp and Ms. Amelia Sedley. Vanity Fair is subtitled a novel without a hero; the more you become acquainted with these two ladies, the better you will understand this

claim. Becky is entranced by society life and wants nothing more than to climb the social ladder all the way to the top. Along the way, she uses, deceives and destroys people. Her venture starts out harmlessly enough. Thackeray makes us feel sorry for this poor orphaned daughter of a penniless painter. She must take matters regarding marriage and well-being into her own hands, since she has no mother to assist her in these endeavors. Becky at first makes a go at Amelia’s rotund, frilly brother, Jos. Sadly that fails. At last, Amelia seduces and weds Rawdon Crawley, an heir to his ailing aunt’s enormous fortune. Unfortunately, Rawdon’s liberal aunt only approves of mismatched pairings in theory and writes the newlyweds out of her will. From this point on, Rawdon and Becky must live on borrowed money and a dream. Becky does have her brushes with society but is never accepted in it. Eventually, the Lord Steyne takes an interest in Becky’s scrap and perk and makes it his duty to assist her in her efforts. Becky gets too far in with Lord Steyne and from there her efforts are ruined, she loses her husband and son and flees the country.

Amelia is quite a different character. She is humble and does not feel the pull of society. Her obsession is with her intended, George Osborne, pertinacious punk that he is. We as readers quickly discover that narcissistic George cares nothing for our poor lady. Early in our story, Amelia’s father loses his fortune and is scorned by the senior Osborne, his former friend. At this point the elder men become so enraged with each other that both forbid the wedding of their two children who had been betrothed almost since birth. Amelia is heartbroken; George couldn’t care less. Eventually, George does marry Amelia, only to punish his father for asking him to marry a mixed-race heiress. George dies in war shortly after their elopement and Amelia is left pregnant and alone. All her life, she refuses the advances of men who are enticed by her innocence and naïveté. She cannot forget her perfect George and is completely blind to his faults. She makes her life a shrine to her late husband and focuses on raising his son.

Meanwhile, William Dobbin, George’s best friend in life - although he is of an entirely different sort altogether - loves Amelia with all of his being. He has always loved her since George first introduced them. In fact, it was Dobbin who convinced George to go through with the wedding to Amelia so that Amelia could feel happy. Dobbin secretly sets up an account for Amelia and her son’s support, letting the widow think this sum was provided by her late husband. He is nothing but a friend in her eyes and when he realizes that, he leaves for India to try to forget her. In the very end, these two are united many years later after Becky shows Amelia a note, proof that George had been unfaithful just a week after their wedding and had asked Becky to run away with him- to save him from what surely would have been a boring life with Amelia.

Some Thoughts

During our discussion, people came out either strongly in favor or opposed to Becky. I was the main voice of protest. Beginning the story, I found Becky to be OK. I understood that she had to take care of herself and needed to be brusque at times in order to achieve these ends. Relatively early on in the novel, Thackeray shows us just how fake Becky is. One scene that displays this perfectly is when Becky is parting from Amelia and is in absolute tears. Then the carriage rounds the corner, Amelia is no longer visible, and Becky stops the show — she was only pretending to be upset. I hated Becky most for despising her son, little Rawdon. She only used the child for her own gains and never cared for his well-being whatsoever; he was a nuisance and an obstacle to her. By the time that Becky left her husband in debtor’s prison, pretending to be sick and carrying on with Lord Steyne, even though she had a secret stash of money in her possession, I was infuriated with her. There are ways to do things and there are ways not to do things, Becky usually chose the latter.

Film Adaptation

The 2004 film adaptation of Vanity Fair started out really strong. George Osborne was portrayed perfectly! Amelia and Dobbin were also portrayed quite well. Reese Witherspoon, while she tried her best, was not convincing as Becky for me—she is far too likeable. It seems as if the novel without a hero format cannot be transferred to the silver screen. The director added in parts to show Becky’s magnanimity and took out parts that showed her cruelty. In the movie, Becky was a hero, a poor little woman not accepted by society when she really deserved to be. This ruined the movie for me. It was still a good show, but it just wasn’t Vanity Fair as Thackeray intended it. Another disappointing element was how much the Amelia-Dobbin love story was swept under the carpet. This affair really added heart to the book; you couldn’t help but root for Dobbin to win his dear heart. In the film, I didn’t care- I wasn’t connected to their story.

Questions

1. Is "Vanity Fair" truly a novel without a hero? 2. Was Becky a hapless victim of society or a cunning ill-doer? 3. What is Thackeray trying to say about motherhood with his three alternate models: Amelia’s over-the-top enthusiasm for little Georgy, Becky’s complete disregard and hatred for Rawdy and Lady Jane’s balanced approach? 4. How do we feel about the omnipresence of the narrator and of Thackeray’s asides to his audience? 5. Was "Vanity Fair" overdone or is it a fairly accurate representation of our society, 19th century or otherwise?

Photo captions: the first is the book cover for Vanity Fair, the second is for the 2004 film adaptation

Melissa LR Handa is the founder and organizer for Ann Arbor Classics Book Group, feel free to send an email requesting more information about the club or to join