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Book 12, Chapter 6
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
Partridge has dinner in the inn’s kitchen, where he exaggerates Tom’s status to anyone who talks to him, including exaggerating how big a fortune he’s heir to. His dining companions are the landlord, the landlady, an exciseman (tax collector), a lawyer’s clerk, and the puppet master. Together they all argue about whether rumors are true that rebels are headed their way. They fear the rebels but agree they won’t mind them if the rebels do little to interfere with their own daily life and livelihoods.
The fact that the people in this town only care about the Jacobite rising insofar as how it affects their daily lives reflects how short-sighted they are. The novel suggests that even in times of momentous historical events, people are often more caught up in their own daily routines. While the novel frequently satirizes this tendency, it also in some ways honors it, dramatizing the personal lives and conflicts of its characters with a degree of realism.
Active
Themes
