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Book 4, Chapter 8
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
Molly puts on her old rags again. Her sisters call her arrogant for wearing Sophia’s dress to church. Goody Seagrim (the gamekeeper’s wife) accuses Molly of being a “whore,” which would prevent her from taking the offer to work as Sophia’s servant. Molly replies that Goody Seagrim herself married quickly, due to a pregnancy, but Goody Seagrim sees nothing wrong with that, believing she did so to turn herself into an honest woman. Goody Seagrim stops, however, when Molly says she has a “gentleman” who will provide for her and gives her mother some money that Tom gave her before he left.
Goody Seagrim sees herself as morally superior to her daughter Molly because after she accidentally got pregnant, she married quickly to make things appear legitimate. From a Christian standpoint, both women committed fornication (sex before marriage), but Goody Seagrim’s choice to get married afterward is more socially acceptable, showing how social respectability is often more important than morality to these characters.
Active
Themes
Goody Seagrim changes her mind and starts calling Sophia condescending for offering Molly a job. She thinks Black George was wrong to even listen to the offer. Black George gets uncharacteristically angry and beats Goody Seagrim with a small switch, quieting the whole family. At last, they decide that Goody Seagrim should work as Sophia’s servant, in the hopes of eventually passing on the job to her eldest daughter Betty instead of Molly.
Active
Themes
