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
Amelia keeps all of Georgy’s things, hoping one day he’ll be a great success and so his childhood things will be valuable. Her married sister-in-law Maria continues to distance herself from the rest of the family (whom she sees as beneath her), while Jane does the opposite and starts trying to get closer to Georgy. Dobbin’s sisters also show interest in Georgy, and Amelia reluctantly lets him visit sometimes. During one of these trips, Amelia is certain that Georgy saw his grandfather, Mr. Osborne.
Amelia believes strongly—and perhaps irrationally— that Georgy is perfect, mirroring how she felt about George himself. This calls into question whether Amelia will one day be disillusioned by her relationship with Georgy, just as she was with George near the end of his life. In a way, Amelia’s strong affection for Georgy seems to be her attempt to suppress the less favorable aspects of George’s life, keeping his legacy alive in the
Themes
Literary Devices
Shortly after Georgy sees Mr. Osborne, Amelia gets a letter from Mr. Osborne saying that he will make Georgy his heir and give Amelia an allowance—even if she remarries—but in return, she must leave Georgy to live with Mr. Osborne in Russell Square. For one of the few times in her life, Amelia gets angry, and she vows not even to respond to the letter.
As an earlier chapter revealed, Mr. Osborne has been acting erratically lately, even proposing to the much-younger Miss Swartz. This new offer to take care of Georgy seems to be his latest ploy to try to change his life. Notably, Georgy strongly resembles George, so this would be the closest way for Mr. Osborne to get another chance at raising George himself.
Themes
Bills continue to pile up for Amelia’s family, and Mrs. Sedley falls ill. Even Jos in India stops paying his annuity to his family back in England, and Mr. Sedley and Mrs. Sedley accuse Amelia of spending all her time and money on Georgy. And so, for Christmas, Amelia has to sell some of her own clothes in order to be able to buy new ones for Georgy. She makes enough money from her clothes that she decides to also buy Georgy some books he wants. But when she gets back with the books, Mrs. Sedley scolds Amelia for wasting money. Amelia protests that she never meant to be selfish and gives her mother everything she has left from the sale.
Mr. Osborne disregards Amelia is his plan to take away Georgy—just as he failed to take her feelings into account when he tried to stop her marriage to George in the first place. Meanwhile, Mr. Sedley is inconsiderate in his own way—after wasting the family money on his own schemes, like failed attempts to sell wine, he now scolds Amelia for spending a relatively modest amount of money to make her son happy. In the world of the novel, greed and selfishness are admirable (or at least excusable) qualities; meanwhile, people condemn acts of selfishness and compassion.
Themes
