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Chapter 3
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Vanity Fair, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Greed and Ambition
Vanity
Social Class and Character
Gender
Inheritance and Family Life
Summary
Analysis
Jos seemingly panics for a couple days and doesn’t come home. While he’s away, Becky doesn’t mention him but tries to charm Mr. Sedley and Mrs. Sedley. By the time Jos gets back, everyone likes Becky so much that they decide to keep her another week, writing a letter to inform the family that hired her as governess. When Jos sees Becky, he still teases her about eating too much chili. Amelia tries to help Becky’s efforts, asking Jos to take them out to Vauxhall. Jos agrees, and Mr. Sedley adds that each girl should have a gentleman with them, so George Osborne should accompany them too.
Jos continues to use worldly pleasures as a way to escape deeper issues. As Becky spends more time with the Sedleys, she gets better at learning how to influence the people around her, realizing that if she wants to marry Jos, she will also have to win over his parents. Vauxhall isn’t that far a trip, but the ritual of going becomes important to the characters. The trip seems to hint that George and Amelia will become a couple, and so it also sets up Jos and Becky as a potential couple.
Themes
Later, Mr. Sedley and Mrs. Sedley discuss Becky’s interest in Jos. Mr. Sedley feels that Jos is so vain that the first woman who really tries for him is going to get him, so it may as well be Becky, since at least she’s white (as opposed to the Indian women who surround Jos when he’s working abroad).
Mr. Sedley's attitudes hint at the extent of racism in England during this time period. While it’s possible to read this passage as mocking Mr. Sedley’s prejudices, showing how he is so desperate for his son to marry a white woman that he’ll settle for anyone, the novel itself doesn’t seem to challenge the racist views it presents. For example, Thackeray does not necessarily criticize British colonialism and does not portray Indian people sympathetically—in fact, they’re largely absent from the story.
Themes
George comes to dinner before the trip to Vauxhall. He is Mr. Sedley’s godson, and the family has known him for all 23 years of his life. At dinner, Becky compliments George’s Hessian boots, which is also the style Jos wears. In return, George compliments Becky as an artist. They all lament that Becky must leave soon, and Amelia starts to cry. George suggests going to the drawing-room so that Amelia can play piano, and the two of them leave. Jos tells Becky he’s pretty sure that once George inherits his company, he and Amelia will marry.
This chapter continues to build up ceremony around the trip to Vauxhall, with a dinner beforehand now becoming part of the ritual. Although Becky means for Jos to overhear her compliment George’s boots, it also leaves open the possibility that Becky is trying to charm George, despite the clear indications that Amelia and George are on track to one day be married. Amelia’s skill at the piano is one of the few aspects in her life where she shows initiative and creativity.
Themes
Literary Devices
Becky and Jos have an unremarkable conversation, but Jos says more than he usually would to a woman. He tells her about India and dangerous tiger-hunting expeditions. George and Amelia overhear the conversation and marvel at Jos’s transformation. Eventually, Jos and Becky join them in the drawing-room so that Becky can sing. That night before he falls asleep, Jos considers how Becky must love him.
For Jos, one of the main appeals of India is that most British people haven’t been there, so he is free to tell exaggerated stories, and his audiences will be none the wiser. An earlier passage revealed that Becky specifically studied music with the intent of using it to win a husband, and this passage seems to confirm that her studies have paid off.
Themes
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The next morning, Jos compliments Becky on one of the songs she sang and asks her if she’d sing it again. Becky says she would, but she’s too busy making a green purse. She asks for Jos’s help, and he holds some of the silk in his fingers. Amelia tells Becky she feels certain Jos loves her and will say something that very night.
This passage gives a hint of what Becky wants from a partner: she wants to be the one in control (doing the actual knitting) while her partner follows her lead (holding the string). Jos’s willingness to go along with this seems to suggest that he may indeed soon propose to Becky.
Themes
