Door Stop: Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

It has once again come time for me to tackle one of those classic door stops that I have come to love mostly through the influence of my mother. It is her love of reading the classics that first introduced me to the works of Jane Austen, and then George Eliot, and then Charles Dickens, and then...well, you get the idea. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray is one that I have somehow managed to miss all these years, so it is time to remedy that.

The Situation: It is early 19th century London, and Amelia Sedley has left school with her good friend Rebecca "Becky" Sharp. The two young women are to stay with Amelia's family until it is time for Becky to move on to her new job as a governess. Though the two girls are close, they could not be more different when it comes to attitude and temperament. While Amelia is sweet, good-natured, more than a little naive, and somewhat two-dimensional, Beck is manipulative, sharp-tongued, too smart for her own good, and always up to something, mostly in the interest in bettering her own situation, and if she can lowering everyone else's in the process, all the better. And while Amelia was born into a well-off family and has every prospect of happiness before her, it seems Becky's fate is to be a governess, unless she can somehow marry well. The story will follow the two girls and the different paths they take over the course of their adult lives.

The Problem: Amelia may be the sweetest creature on Earth, but her naivete and willingness to believe in the good of those close to her end up being the cause of much of her suffering. And as she remains devoted to a man who is not equally devoted to her, she ignores the attentions of someone much more worthy. Meanwhile, Becky is managing to forge her own way into society, though at the cost of nearly everyone she comes into contact with. She is able to win over men quite easily, but has less success with women. Moving from one deceit to the next, Becky climbs the social ladder, dragging her husband along with her. And as her status goes up, poor Amelia's goes down, and the two women are once again found to be opposites. With an always rotating cast of surrounding characters, and a few that remain more or less near the center of the action throughout the story, the two women navigate English society, as well as young adulthood, marriage, war, and motherhood, deciding along the way what kind of women they want to be.

Genre, Themes, History: This is a fiction novel set in 19th century England, beginning as early as 1814. At the beginning, Amelia and Becky are young girls just leaving school, and by the end, they both have young boys that are approaching their teens. From the outset, the unreliable narrator frames the story as one that does not have a hero. And throughout the story, it becomes clear that not one of the characters is without their flaws, the sweet Amelia included. It would be incredibly easy to paint Becky as the book's primary villain, but even she has her (rare) moments when she decides to do what is best, as opposed to what is best only for her. Though for the most part, it appears Becky has an inability to think of anyone but herself. Even considering the interests of her own son, or her husband, appears to be beyond her ability. But while Becky's selfishness is much easier to identify, the novel does not dismiss Amelia's inability to see the flaws of those she remains devoted to, or her brother's self-importance and cowardice, or Captain Dobbin's vanity. No one is blameless. It seems Thackeray was interested in portraying humanity as he saw it, which is incredibly flawed.

My Verdict: The objection I hear the most to reading classics is that they are too long and boring. I get it. The language is weird; the narrators tend to ramble; and they are often full of historical information that readers today either do not care about, or cannot bring themselves to understand. When it comes to Vanity Fair (which does come close to the 700 page mark), if a reader can get past the language, and past the meandering narrator that seems to follow a million rabbit trails right when something important or meaningful is about to happen, then they will enjoy this book a great deal. Becky is certainly something else, but so are a lot of the characters in this book. There is always someone plotting, or making some sort of plan, or working on some scheme, Becky just happens to be the one who is the most cunning, and the most ruthless. Thackeray did not hold back on his assessment of humanity, pointing out the flaws of young and old, rich and poor, noble and common. This book is certainly not boring, but it does require a certain amount of patience.

Favorite Moment: When Amelia stands up for herself, effectively sending Becky away from her for a number of years. 

Favorite Character: It is true that not one of the characters in this book is without some flaw that is hard to reconcile, but I found Captain William Dobbin to be one of the least frustrating of the lot. While I sympathized with Amelia and wanted her to have a happy ending almost above all of the others, her naivete was beyond annoying. So I choose Captain Dobbin, who can at least see people for what they are, most of the time.

Recommended Reading: Thackeray's writing is often compared to that of Henry Fielding, but I absolutely refuse to recommend Tom Jones to anyone. It is not the worst book, but it is incredibly long, and when recommending long classic books, I prefer to steer people more towards something like David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, or The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas.