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
After Dobbin leaves, Mr. Sedley is agitated and anxious. He is afraid when Jos comes back, he’ll find some “irregularity” in Mr. Sedley’s papers. Amelia tries to calm him, saying that Jos won’t care about this, but nevertheless, Mr. Sedley continues to lay out papers for Jos.
Mr. Sedley feels guilty for selling off the annuity that Jos was paying him, and it’s also possible that he feels guilty about his earlier failed ventures that Jos helped finance, like wine selling). Even though Mr. Sedley has nothing significant to give as an inheritance, he, like other characters, has anxieties about what he can to prepare the next generation.
Themes
The next morning, Amelia receives a letter from Jos, which explains that he doesn’t feel well but should be there to visit Mr. Sedley and Mrs. Sedley the next evening. Amelia realizes he doesn’t know about Mrs. Sedley’s death. Jos leisurely makes it way to London after stopping to get some new clothes tailored.
Jos’s leisurely trip back to London, full of food and drink, contrasts sharply with how his other remaining family members are living. This passage shows how, while wealth can’t prevent tragedy, it can at times insulate people from suffering.
Themes
When Jos finally reunites with his family, Mr. Sedley apologizes for the bad financial decisions he made. Jos is moved by the poor condition he finds his family in. Polly, the landlord’s daughter, brings up Dobbin’s recent visit and says Dobbin looked happy when he found out Amelia wasn’t remarried, but Amelia gets embarrassed and gestures toward a portrait of George on the wall, saying that after marrying someone as good as George, it is impossible to consider another marriage.
Jos’s sympathy for Mr. Sedley shows that, despite Jos’s flaws and tendency to overindulge, he nevertheless cares for his family, even when his father has nothing left to leave him. Polly’s teasing suggests that others have also begun to notice the affection between Amelia and Dobbin. Still, Amelia’s dedication to George continues to hold her back—his portrait symbolizes how Amelia continues to remember him and how she has idealized him after his death, forgetting the quarrels she had with him near the end of his life.
Themes
The next morning, Dobbin receives a letter from Jos apologizing for how he got angry early when Dobbin tried to wake him up. Jos decides that he must find a new home for Mr. Sedley and Amelia, so he sends a carriage one day to pick them up. Jos is having a new home built for himself where they can also stay. Dobbin is pleased to see that among Amelia and Mr. Sedley’s possessions that they brought with them is the piano.
While Jos indulges himself, he also indulges when it comes to generosity, deciding to forgive Mr. Sedley’s poor financial decisions and do what he can for him and Amelia. Throughout the story, the Sedley family’s house reflects their fortune, with the family living in a large house when they were the most fortunate and then moving into a smaller house at the moment when their luck begins to change. And so, this move to a new house represents a new start for the Sedleys.
Themes
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When Dobbin asks Amelia about the piano, she says it has great sentimental value to her because George gave it to her. Amelia notes that Dobbin has a sad expression on his face after she says this. Later, she realizes that Dobbin must have given her the piano, not George. At first, she doesn’t want the piano, because it’s no longer a relic from George, but she soon changes her mind and decides to show gratitude to Dobbin.
Notably, Dobbin himself doesn’t tell Amelia that he gave her the piano, letting Amelia hold on to her idealized image about George, even as this ideal prevents her from considering getting remarried to Dobbin. Despite this, Amelia still temporarily resents Dobbin (as her rejection of the piano shows) for unintentionally shattering her illusions about George’s generosity.
Themes
A few days later, Amelia apologizes to Dobbin for never thanking him about the piano. Dobbin admits that he bought the piano, and he goes even further, admitting that he loves Amelia and has perhaps loved her from the moment he saw her. Amelia feels bad about how she was ungrateful for Dobbin’s love earlier. But she maintains that George will still be her husband in heaven, and so it’s impossible for her to love again. Dobbin accepts this but asks if he can still see her often, and Amelia agrees.
The whole novel has been leading up to the moment when Dobbin declares his love to Amelia, but it ends up being anticlimactic, with Amelia unable to let go of the past—and in particular, her idealized views of her dead husband. Just as monetary inheritances from the dead determine the wealth of the living, George’s death continues to reverberate through the lives of both Amelia and Dobbin.
Themes
