Joseph Andrews

Josehph Andrews has delighted me!  I have always been fond of Candide, and throughout Fielding's novel I have been seeing echos of Voltaire.  Beth wondered why Fielding wrote his novel as a journey, and compared it to Chaucer, which was something I had not thought of.  As soon as I had read a few chapters, I was reminded so much of Pangloss that I could think of nothing else.  Fielding's commentary on Christians is very amusing.  How quickly farmers, parsons, and everyone else turn against Adams as soon as he asks for a loan.  It this mercantilist age, not only is there a shortage of actual coins, but also a marked resentment when money is asked for.  One of my favorite scenes was when Adams was breakfasting with the pig farming parson, and his ale is snatched from his hand by his host, who insists that no one shall drink before him in his own house.  His obvious self aggrandizing and churlish nature were so perfectly illustrated by Fielding's examples and I am sure we can all recall instances where we have been so absolutely stunned by the uncouth behavior of an acquaintance that we have been at a loss for words.  Fielding's skill lies in his ability to recount these events in fiction, and with such satire, that we, along with Adams, squirm in discomfort as we laugh. 

Class and money are at the core of Joseph Andrews as much as the subject of virtue.  I found Sharon's mention of semiotics interesting.  I study the semiotics of class and gender in the eighteenth and nineteenth century, and am used to thinking of the semiotics of clothing and class more than the semiotics of money in relation to its gold or sterling value, but this addition of money has planted a seed for future research ideas.  As for the semiotics of class, they make up the entire book.  The references to Greek, Latin, and medicine imply education, the mangled manners of would be bourgeois "respectable" citizens like Mrs. Tow-wouse highlight their complete lack of gentility, and the promises of horses, a place to stay and a living poke fun at those who would be perceived as having arrived in the world, only to impress others and make their lives infinitely worse by broken  promises.  Because Fielding, like Addison and Steele, makes fun of a species as opposed to a person, these stereotypes and characters are recognizable in our own postmodern world, visible in store clerks, friends, colleagues, and neighbors.