Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Vanity Fair, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Greed and Ambition
Vanity
Social Class and Character
Gender
Inheritance and Family Life
Summary
Analysis
Mrs. Sedley’s coach pulls up at the gate of Miss Pinkerton’s academy for young ladies. Mrs. Sedley is there to pick up her daughter, Amelia Sedley. Amelia has just graduated, and she receives a letter confirming that she has all the qualities of a refined English gentlewoman. A postscript to the letter mentions that Amelia’s friend, Becky Sharp, will also be coming back with her but must leave within 10 days for a job as a governess with a distinguished family.
The beginning of the novel immediately establishes some facts about social norms pertaining to gender and class in 19th-century England. As this passage demonstrates, girls and boys went to separate schools, and education played a particularly important role for those on track to become ladies and gentlemen. The letter that Miss Pinkerton writes, which lavishly praises Amelia—then mentions Becky in the postscript—provides an early indication that Amelia fits in much better with the environment at Miss Pinkerton’s than Becky does.
Themes
As a graduation gift, Miss Pinkerton asks her sister Jemima Pinkerton to go fetch a dictionary by Samuel Johnson. Jemima comes back with two dictionaries, but Miss Pinkerton scolds her, saying only Amelia deserves a dictionary, because unlike Becky, Amelia’s father is a wealthy merchant in London. The narrator confirms that, while graduation letters often exaggerate, Amelia deserves all the praise, even though she is “guileless,” and her face is a little too round for her to be a proper “heroine.”
In some editions, Vanity Fair has the subtitle “A Novel without a Hero.” This seems to refer to the fact that Amelia is too meek and reserved to be a proper hero (while perhaps also suggesting that the morally ambiguous Becky is more of an anti-hero). This passage also shows how the narrator functions as a character in the story. Although he is not an active character in the story, observing things from a distance, he sometimes shares his opinions and occasionally helps define the narrative structure of the novel by withholding information or claiming not to know it.
Themes
Literary Devices
Amelia herself isn’t sure how to feel about leaving Miss Pinkerton’s school. She’s happy about going home but sad about leaving the school behind. Amelia’s family’s “black” servant Sambo begins loading her belongings into the coach. Meanwhile, as everyone prepares to Amelia to leave, no one takes notice of Becky except Jemima, who encourages Becky to go say goodbye to Miss Pinkerton. Becky agrees, saying goodbye to Miss Pinkerton in French, but Miss Pinkerton only knows how to teach French, not speak it.
“Black” in this passage could mean African or Asian, since racial terms were different at the time of the book’s publication. Today, “Sambo” is an offensive term for a Black person. While the name was not necessarily offensive when Vanity Fair was first published, contemporary audiences will note that Thackeray’s portrayal of Sambo isn’t very nuanced and arguably reinforces the prejudice that nonwhite people should act as servants to white people.
Themes
Many cry as Amelia prepares to leave, but no one cries for Becky. Jemima comes up to the coach and offers sandwiches for both girls and a copy of Samuel Johnson’s dictionary for Becky, who didn’t get one earlier. But as the coach leaves, Jemima sees Becky throw the dictionary out the window of the coach and into the garden.
The moment when Becky tosses the dictionary out the window is one of the defining moments for her character. It shows that she doesn’t want to play by the rules of Miss Pinkerton’s school—and that she doesn’t accept Jemima’s charity. Amelia, on the other hand, holds on to her copy, showing that she follows the rules, even though the rest of the novel never mentions Amelia actually using her dictionary.
Themes
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