Tom Jones- Henry Fielding
Tom Jones – Henry Fielding – 1749
Reviewed by: Natasha Date: 18 September 2003
Tom Jones is all about misunderstanding. That is to say, a misunderstanding created deliberately by the author as the final, underlying didactic principle of the whole work; never be complaisant! Tom Jones is the lovable rogue who goes through a process of growing up in this coming of age novel. Sophia is the chaste heroine who Tom must become worthy of, and Jenny Jones is the enigma, the key to the mystery of Tom’s parentage. Much of our traditional notions are overturned. We find that it is the the women who seduce Tom, not the other way around. The socially correct Blifil is a smarmy trickster while Tom the rascal is usually caught out because he is too generous and kind-hearted. The narrative takes the tone of light Dickensian banter, and invites us ,with good humoured satire, to take a good look at our notions of objective reality.
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