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Book 16, 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
Like a parent, the narrator admits he is partial to Sophia. He wants to check on her but first has to describe events related to Mr. Blifil. He has a violent desire to possess Sophia, and only the loss of her fortune could ever make him stop wanting her. Mr. Blifil’s main obstacle is Allworthy, who began to have doubts about the marriage plan after Sophia’s running away hinted at how deeply she disliked Mr. Blifil. Still, Mr. Blifil, Thwackum, and Square all eventually manage to convince Allworthy to allow Mr. Blifil to try to marry Sophia. Once Mr. Blifil gets his uncle’s acceptance, he stops at nothing in his quest to try to marry Sophia.
While Mr. Blifil’s desire to marry Sophia initially began from a place of greed and wanting to get his hands on Mr. Western’s fortune, the more time that passes, the more it starts to become a personal grudge. He resents Sophia for taking away something that he believes to be rightfully his, and this reflects the privileged way that Mr. Blifil has gone through life. Indeed, nothing in his character suggests that he has ever done much to deserve his privileged status.
Active
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