Previous
Book 6, Chapter 1
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
After Sophia passed out, she, Mr. Western, Mr. Western’s sister (Mrs. Western), and Tom head back to Mr. Western’s house for dinner. The next morning at breakfast, Sophia seems unusually serious. Mr. Western doesn’t notice, but Mrs. Western, who sees herself as a well-traveled and well-read woman, thinks she knows exactly what Sophia is thinking.
Mrs. Western, Sophia’s aunt, makes more of an effort to understand Sophia than Mr. Western, but she brings her own prejudices, perhaps overestimating how worldly she herself is, which in turn causes her to overestimate how much she knows about Sophia.
Active
Themes
Privately, Mrs. Western brings up her concerns about Sophia to Mr. Western. She is certain that Sophia must be in love. Mr. Western thinks that such a thing is preposterous and says he’ll disinherit Sophia if she fell in love without telling him. Mrs. Western presses the issue, and Mr. Western supposes maybe he wouldn’t mind if Sophia loved someone suitable.
This passage seems to suggest that Mrs. Western has figured out that Sophia is in love with Tom and that she is taking action to try to turn this potential match into a reality. She helps Mr. Western see how he himself might benefit from finding the right match for Sophia.
Active
Themes
Mrs. Western says she is sure that Sophia must love Mr. Blifil, since Sophia fainted at seeing Mr. Blifil’s injury. Mr. Western isn’t sure how he feels about this, but Mrs. Western insists that it’s a potentially fruitful match that he should take seriously, since if Sophia marries Mr. Blifil, she’ll inherit Allworthy’s estate. Mr. Western debates the feasibility of this engagement but eventually backs down. Although Mr. Western has never read Machiavelli, he sees himself as something of a politician and he is interested not just in Allworthy’s fortune but in Mrs. Western’s, believing that if he keeps her happy, Sophia might have a chance to inherit it.
