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Book 2, Chapter 9
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Joseph Andrews, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Hypocrisy
Lust vs. Chastity
Social Class
Religion and Charity
Summary
Analysis
Abraham Adams soon realizes that the woman he just saved feels as afraid of him as she did of her previous attacker. He tries to calm her by reassuring her that everything is in accordance with Providence. The two of them come across a crowd that is engaged in “bird-batting” (scaring birds out of bushes and trying to get them into nets). Adams goes with the bird-batters to see about the man who was attacking the woman, but the man has recovered and fled.
Adams’s reference to Providence suggests that he believes everything happens for a reason. Adams’s encounter with this woman on the road will indeed end up being consequential, and both destiny and coincidence play a major role in the story.
Themes
In fact, the man who attacked the woman told the bird-batters that Abraham Adams and an evil woman attacked him. The mob decides to bring Adams and the woman to justice. They argue about how to split up the reward money for turning in the “robbers.” At last, while Adams is being carried off, he mentions Joseph Andrews. The woman he saved recognizes his voice—she is Fanny.
The bird-batters represent people who are just looking for cheap amusement. They are more interested in witnessing a spectacle (like bird-batting) than they are in actually making sure that justice is carried out here.
Themes
Fanny asks how Joseph Andrews is. Abraham Adams says he hopes Fanny has been faithful because Joseph still cares about her, but Fanny says she has no special regard for Joseph. In reality, however, Fanny was milking a cow and came running as soon as she heard about the trouble Joseph was in.
