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
Becky writes a letter to Amelia. She says that while she is happy to have a new home with Sir Pitt, she finds it gloomy and misses having friends. She writes about how Sir Pitt is so stingy and speaks with a country accent. Sir Pitt has a brother named Bute who is a country parson. He has two sons (Mr. Pitt Crawley and Rawdon Crawley) from the first Lady Crawley, and two daughters (Rose and Violet) from the second Lady Rose Crawley (whom he married after the death of his first wife).
Although Becky tries to appear appreciative to Sir Pitt’s face, in her letters, she tells Amelia how she really feels, revealing that she can see the signs of decay at her new home. Her letter also delivers some important exposition, since the complicated dynamics of the Crawley family provide much of the conflict in the novel.
Themes
Becky continues writing about the beginning of her life as a governess, as she struggles to teach the second Lady Crawley’s two wild daughters. Lady Crawley is little help because she’s always knitting, while Sir Pitt is frequently drunk. Here, the letter ends. The narrator interjects to suggest that while Becky is sad to be away from Amelia, perhaps it’s best for Amelia. The narrator makes it clear that while Becky might laugh at Sir Pitt, the narrator personally isn’t doing so and respects people like him.
And so, it turns out that Sir Pitt is yet another man in the story who avoids responsibility by drinking. The fact that his daughters are so unruly suggests that he isn’t very attentive as a parent and now expects Becky to take on that role. When the narrator claims that it’s best to respect Sir Pitt, this statement should probably be taken ironically, since aside from his minor title, there is nothing particularly impressive or respectable about Sir Pitt.
Themes
