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Book 12, Chapter 5
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Virtue vs. Vice
Marriage, Romance, and Economics
Appearance vs. Reality
Coming of Age
Storytelling, Literature, and Structure
Summary
Analysis
There’s a disturbance at the puppet show. A maid who was caught in the crowd in a compromising situation with a man named Merry Andrew gets attacked by her landlady, cutting off the puppet master’s speech to Tom. The landlady blames the puppet master for bringing immorality to the town. The puppet master himself runs out to hit Merry Andrew, who is part of his company. Meanwhile, Partridge convinces Tom to stay until morning, so that they can find someone to ask about Sophia’s whereabouts.
The way that the ambitious puppet master gets run out of town is perhaps a commentary on how Fielding’s stories, like Tom Jones, are full of bawdy elements that some could attack as immoral, even though Fielding (and the narrator character who acts as his stand-in) generally use this vulgarity for a purpose, as just one element in stories that also touch on loftier themes.
Active
Themes
