Joseph Andrews generates a lighthearted, humorous, and sarcastic mood in the reader. It is a ridiculous read, and intentionally so—Fielding intimates as much in the preface to the novel, effectively saying that he finds life to be ridiculous and wants his novel to reflect that. Portraying the unpredictable behavior of a cast of very flawed, very human characters, Fielding fosters this mood throughout the novel, generally through laser-sharp satire of human folly, as in Book 1, Chapter 15, when the surgeon and Mr. Barnabas attempt to prove their legal prowess over the other:
They had consumed the whole Night in debating what Measures they should take to produce the piece of Gold in Evidence against him: for they were both extremely zealous in the Business, tho’ neither of them were in the least interested in the Prosecution; neither of them had ever received any private Injury from the Fellow, nor had either of them ever been suspected of loving the Publick well enough, to give them a Sermon or a Dose of Physick for nothing.
Fielding renders this situation (a preacher and a doctor arguing with each other over the punishment of a thief, in the absence of a lawyer or judge) even more humorous through his observations about the profession of each man: neither of them is particularly intent on actually prosecuting the thief, and, in spite of their supposedly noble professions, they are each really in it for the money.
