Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
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- Alderica
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Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
I love Thackeray's humour, which makes up for some weaknesses in character depiction to my mind. I am not sure whether Amelia Sedley is supposed to be the epitome of sweetness and virtue or weakness and silliness (or both), but I quite often found myself wanting to give her a slap. While George Osborne was obviously not worthy of her, she certainly isn't worthy of the lovely Captain (later Major) Dobbin. I cannot understand how Dobbin would fall out of love with her after 15 years because she insisted on standing up for Becky Sharp, then come back and marry her when she called.
I would also like to have seen how the relationship between Becky and the Marquis of Steyne developed, as he is really a central figure in her story. I also thought the ending was rather abrupt... what happened between Jos Sedley and Becky to make him call her "a terrible woman"? And it is implied that she drove him to his death - but how?
Mind you, I'm still a fan of this book. I am aware that many of the characters are stereotypes rather than individuals. And as I have said, I love Thackeray's humour and satirical commentary.
- Lms526
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But I was bored of reading Vanity Fairish books at that time, maybe that was the reason.
― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
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As far as characterization, I think Thackeray could have been intentionally ambiguous about whether or not Amelia was supposed to be an admirable character. Maybe he was poking fun at the Victorian image of the "ideal" woman? I think I liked Lady Jane better than Amelia (there are really no other women that are even close to admirable, unless I'm forgetting someone). Do you think Thackeray intended her to be an alternative to both Amelia and Becky? Or were her circumstances just better?
In regard to Dobbin's return, I think his decision to stop loving Amelia was a little jarring (and possibly the only negative thing the narrator said about her without following it with several paragraphs of excuses), and I guess I just assumed that he was trying to convince himself to give up an affair that was clearly ridiculous, but when push came to shove he just couldn't do it. Maybe the narrator was also trying to show that Amelia's character flaw was that she could only love people who didn't love her back? What do you think of Amelia's jealousy of her daughter at the end?
I don't really know about Becky's affair with the Marquis. The introduction to the copy I had seemed (I'm not totally sure how) to suggest that Thackeray was intentionally ambiguous as a form of sophistication, like "nobody talks about this but we all know what's really happening," or something.
That same intro also suggested that one striking thing about all the characters is their isolation. What do you think about that?
- amybo82
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Which movie did you see? Because I just finished the book, I was thinking of trying to watch the one with Reese Witherspoon, but it doesn't sound like whichever one you saw is really worth it.amybo82 wrote:I haven't read it, but I have seen (most of) the movie. The movie was really long and drawn out. Just when I thought it was going to be over, it kept going! I think I would like the book better than the movie, though. It sounds like there is nuanced humor in the book that is better read than depicted in a movie. I'll have to check this one out next time I go through a classics phase!
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Not one of my favourite classics.
The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
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But once I managed to finish it and went through the whole range of emotions - it has become a recurring read.
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