Textuality » 4A Interacting
Structural Analysis of the novel
TOM JONES by Henry Fielding
Story line
Tom Jones and his servant Patrige were riding horses on the road when they saw a light at distance and head a strange music.
Setting
When? In the night, as it is expressed by some points in the text:
•- "They now discovered a light" à To discover a light is necessary the darkness;
•- "At this time of night".
Where? Outside, on the road.
•- "In such place and in such weather?" à They are in a place by which the weather could be seen and it isn't a good place in which being at night, they are moving so they are outside.
•- "enquire the way to Coventry" à They are on the road.
Characters
Patrige - He is the Tom Jones's servant characterized by a strong willed, so he is a
good worker, and a closed mind, it is quite stupid. He believes in everything
without thinking before deciding if it could be the truth or not. A clear
example of his personality is that he believes the post boy: "Contagion of
which had reached the post boy".
Tom Jones - He is the main character and he has the features of "Picaro", vagabond
of the picaresque novel: intelligent, courageous and sure about himself.
He don't believes in Patrige words and he defines witches as "all-naturated hags" so he represents the reason. He reflects and he considers things by a rational and objective point of view. He feels superiors than Patrige, not only because he is the sir, because he says: "Poor", "fears of these poor fellows.
It comes out a different cultural background between Patrige and Jones because they have different approaches to supernatural.
Narrative techniques
The narrator is a third person narrator omniscient and intrusive. He is omniscient because he knows everything, also things happened in the previous time [line 10].
He is intrusive because sometimes the reader notices his presence in the text because he comments [lines 6-7-8-9].
Usually the narrator tells to the reader the story in chronological arrange reporting the direct speech of characters, but he also uses:
•- Flashback: to explain why Patrige was so feared about man and women
having a nice time;
•- Summary: to synthesize how the episode of the narration ends.