Jan 17, 2008 12:42
I finally finished reading Vanity Fair.
I had been wanting to read it for a long time and, as it was chosen by one of the book clubs, I started reading it in December. And I finished it this month, around the 14th or so. It was b o r i n g.
Thackeray uses some stereotyped characters to set up a very brilliant satire against "refined" society, that is still applicable nowadays for several people or groups of people. I have to concede that. We are introduced to the incompetence of Academies for young ladies and the cruelty of the equivalent for young lords, to the impertinence and bad-gossips of servants, to the haughty and vain nobles and princes, to the selfishness and love of money of many a so-called good-willed woman or man, to the coarse militia and rural noblesse, etc. Thackeray presents the world as a place in where we can only triumph if we have no qualms and morals, if we are cheeky and liars, although, at the end, the real triumph is for the saints and insipid-but-good people.
In general, women are depicted as tricksters, as plot-concocters and jealous of other women, and men as generally simple creatures that would fall for any women that happens to sing, be beautiful and laugh at their jokes; also vain (literally "as women" says Thackeray) who need to be praised constantly.
*Warning: spoilers ahead*
Among the set of character we can find:
- Miss Becky Sharp, later Mrs. Rawdon Crawley: witty and selfish woman. At the end, all that made her interesting as a character had been erased from the story.
- Miss Amelia Sedley, later Mrs. George Osborne, later Mrs. Dobbin: insipid. Warm-hearted at the start, selfish and double-faced at the end. If it hadn't been because of Rebecca, she wouldn't have accepted Dobbin, you can be sure.
- Mr. George Osborne: vain, selfish, stupid. Adored because of his appearance. Dead in Waterloo.
- Mr. Jos Sedley: vain and affected. Quite sentimental.
- Mr. Dobbin, later Major Dobbin: good-hearted, simple but intelligent, skilled in many arts and sciences. Ignored because of his awkwardness when in society, the only character worth called 'the hero of the novel'. But one could kill him because of his lacking-of-common-sense adoration of Amelia.
- Mr. Rawdon Crawley: from miserable scoundrel to honourable father.
- The Sedleys: once in poverty, benevolence gone for ever.
- The Osbornes: rich loners, once George is dead.
- The Crawleys: noble family full of unworthy conceited men, with valiant woman to guide them (more or less virtuous, depending on which of the ladies you set your eyes upon)
*end of spoilers*
There was a good deal of interesting aspects raised and many interesting stories there, mainly because of Becky. However, when Thackeray decided to analyze and dissect, everything interesting faded away. His own wordy style made me feel that reading his novel was a chore.
I really had high hopes for the book, I had been told that the satire was funny and the story entertaining, but it turned out slow-paced and devoid of something to make it advance, and I just remember smiling once or twice. I don't have anything against lengthy books, or classics or satire or the English society of the 18th and 19th century. But I couldn't stand it.
Next up: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.
author: thackeray; william makepeace,
finished,
books,
cultural criticism