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
Meanwhile, while Lord Steyne’s fancy dinner is taking place, Mr. Sedley continues to live with his family in comparative squalor. Amelia tries to figure out ways for their household to earn more money—she considers taking up teaching or painting—but her paintings of a shepherd and shepherdess get a poor reaction when she tries to sell them.
Unlike Becky, who uses music to charm those around her, Amelia struggles to win anyone over with her sentimental nature paintings. Her life continues to demonstrate how as much as teachers like Miss Pinkerton claim that English society rewards nice, obedient women like Amelia, the reality is that society more often rewards calculating, greedy people like Becky to make money and win people over—at least in the short term.
Themes
Literary Devices
Amelia decides to write Jos and beg him to pay his annuity to the family again. What she doesn’t realize is that Jos is still paying the annuity, but it just goes straight to a debt collector because Mr. Sedley sold it off. At last, Mr. Sedley reveals the truth to Amelia about how he got rid of the annuity. She forgives him and trusts that he made the best decision.
While Mr. Sedley was not necessarily to blame for losing his fortune in the Napoleonic Wars, all of his decisions since then show that he is terrible with money and only stumbled into wealth through luck in the first place. Amelia’s trust in Mr. Sedley’s decision-making abilities is deeply misplaced, showing yet again the dangers of being as obedient as she is.
Themes
Regretfully, Amelia decides that she has no other option but to give Georgy over to Mr. Osborne in exchange for some money and a written agreement that she can visit Georgy whenever she wants. When Mr. Osborne gets the note, he feels smug and tells Jane to go clean out a room for Georgy. Then he sends over some money. Amelia gives the money to Mr. Sedley and Mrs. Sedley, telling them that Georgy won’t be with them much longer.
Mr. Osborne has always disliked Amelia, at least since her family lost its money, and it seems that Mr. Osborne’s adoption of Georgy is not just about trying to replace George but also about getting revenge on Amelia (whom Mr. Osborne blames for leading George astray). Amelia sacrifices the thing that’s most precious to her—Georgy—all for the sake of helping her parents, showing how obedience and loyalty overcomes all of Amelia’s other values.
Themes
Jane comes the next day to take Georgy from Amelia. Georgy looks happy about living with Mr. Osborne, which saddens Amelia. She tries to reassure herself that Georgy still loves her and is just intrigued by the novelty of living somewhere different. She dreads the moment when, in a couple days, she’ll finally have to hand him over. At last, the transfer takes place. From then on, on days when Georgy doesn’t visit, Amelia often takes long walks so that she can see the lights of the house in Russell Square and know that Georgy is inside. She hopes the walks will tire her so that she can dream about Georgy at night.
Amelia finds ways to continue her obsession with Georgy even after handing him over. Her efforts to see Georgy, while over the top, are also moving, particularly since Georgy himself seems to be too young to understand what’s happening and to properly reciprocate her love. On some of her walks, Amelia can’t even see Georgy, just the light in his window. Light has a lot of religious symbolism, showing how Amelia is so devoted to Georgy that he becomes like a distant deity to her.
Themes
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During one of her walks, Amelia secretly sees Georgy coming out of church, where he is the only one who gives money to a little chimney sweep begging on the street. After Georgy is gone, Amelia also gives some money to the sweep, and she’s so proud of Georgy that she cries.
While Amelia sees this episode as proof of Georgy’s perfection, it’s unclear to what extent Georgy was actually motivated by charity when he gave the money to the sweep or whether it was just the random impulse of a child. Amelia believes so strongly in Georgy’s goodness that she sees deeper meaning in everything he does.
Themes
