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Chapter 5
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
The narrator apologizes that the story has not been more exciting and promises that there are some very good chapters coming up. With this, the story resumes. Jos, Becky, George, Amelia, and Dobbin all crowd into a coach to head to Vauxhall. Everyone in the coach believes Jos is about to propose to Becky. Jos’s parents have mixed feelings on this possibility; while Mrs. Sedley feels that Becky is beneath Jos, Mr. Sedley feels that Jos should do as he wants. When the party gets out of the coach, Jos takes Becky’s arm, George takes Amelia’s arm, and Dobbin walks alone.
While the narrator’s comments about the book being boring are intended to be humorous, it is also true that because Vanity Fair is such a long novel, the earlier chapters proceed at a relatively slow pace, laying the groundwork for the more sweeping scope of the later chapters. On the day of the anticipated Vauxhall trip, it finally becomes clear why the trip is so important—it is not just a chance for Jos to get to know Becky—it’s also an opportunity for him to propose.
Themes
Literary Devices
Walking at a slight distance behind the couples, Dobbin feels that Amelia is worthy of his good friend George and that they look happy. Though the couples promised to stay together the whole evening, they soon separate, with the intention of all meeting again for supper. Eventually, Becky finds herself walking with Jos through a solitary area and feels certain that this is the decisive moment when he’ll decide whether or not to propose. Becky says how much she’d like to see India, but just as Jos answers, a bell rings for fireworks and people start rushing by.
This section hints that perhaps Dobbin has also fallen for Amelia, but out of loyalty to George, he has decided not to act on his feelings. Meanwhile, this passage also shows how, despite having ample opportunity to propose to Becky, Jos remains indecisive and unable to deal with difficult topics. Although he tells himself he’s on the verge of proposing, conveniently enough, he gets interrupted just then, raising the question of whether he will actually follow through with his plans.
Themes
When everyone meets for dinner, Dobbin notices there are only four place settings at the table. Feeling he’s unwanted, Dobbin makes an excuse to leave and go walking on his own. At dinner, Jos orders a lot of alcohol, and since no one else drinks it, he gets extremely drunk. George starts getting upset and concerned at how inebriated Jos is. When Dobbin comes back, George asks him to take care of Jos while George gets the ladies back into the coach.
The fact that there are only four places at the table confirms that Dobbin is an outsider in the group, and it raises the question of whether George is really as loyal to Dobbin as Dobbin is to George. Meanwhile, Jos’s heavy drinking fits with his pattern of trying to avoid responsibility by turning to food and drink—although he claims to want to propose to Becky, in fact, he seems keen to avoid making the decision, which his heavy drinking helps him do.
Themes
George takes Becky and Amelia home, while Dobbin takes care of Jos. Becky figures perhaps Jos will propose to her tomorrow. The next morning, however, Jos has a massive hangover. He learns he got into a fight and punched a coachman. Meanwhile, George complains to Dobbin that Jos has embarrassed him, and things will be even worse if he decides to marry a low-born governess.
Although George seems to look past Dobbin’s low family background, he apparently can’t do the same for Becky, showing the illogical nature of class prejudices. Another possibility is that George doesn’t want to see Becky get married at all so that she remains available—despite Amelia’s strong loyalty toward George, this trip raises questions of whether he feels the same way about her.
Themes
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George goes to visit Amelia and Becky. They all talk about how they regret ignoring Dobbin the previous night. As the day goes on, Becky worries about not hearing from Jos, so Amelia sends away a page to pick up a book (using this as an excuse to check up on Jos). They learn Jos has been sick in bed all day.
Despite all the anticipation building up to the Vauxhall trip, it was ultimately a bit of a disappointment for all the characters. Jos ends up with a literal hangover, but the other characters also show their regret in this passage.
Themes
The next day, Sambo comes to Becky and Amelia with a letter from Jos. In the letter, he asks Becky to forgive him and forget everything he said while drunk. Becky goes off to cry. Everyone in the house except Amelia begins to feel that it’s time for Becky to leave. When it becomes clear Becky is leaving, Amelia collects some of her old things as gifts for Becky and asks Mr. Sedley and George to give Becky money. Becky accepts the gifts but secretly believes George is the one who ruined her marriage prospects with Jos. Becky leaves as Amelia promises to love her forever.
Becky cries at Jos’s letter because she knows it’s time to leave, and he has run out of time to propose to her. While Becky succeeded in charming the whole Sedley family fairly quickly, she also managed to lose much of this goodwill just as easily, a pattern of behavior that will follow Becky throughout the rest of the novel. Becky ends her visit with the Sedleys less naïve than she was at the beginning—she correctly guesses that George was the one who interfered in her potential marriage, although it’s also unclear how serious Jos himself was about proposing to Becky in the first place.
Themes
