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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
In addition to knowing about religion, the curate Abraham Adams is a scholar of languages, both ancient and contemporary. Despite being learned and sensible in some ways, he also has the innocence of a newborn—he can’t imagine that some people in the world are evil or deceptive. His agreeable personality helps him rise up in the church, although he struggles to stretch his salary to support his wife and six children.
The passage about Abraham Adams lays out both his strengths and his character flaws. While he has real scholarly knowledge, he lacks common sense. In many ways, Adams character is a condemnation of the shortcomings of organized religion, but he also has many positive qualities, such as his devotion to his family.
Themes
Quiz
Test Yourself
Abraham Adams asks Joseph Andrews questions about religion to test his knowledge, and he answers better than Abraham himself could. Joseph learned to read and write from his father at a young age, and he spent much of his leisure time reading books, including the Bible. Abraham is surprised by Joseph’s self-motivation and asks if he regrets not coming from a family that could provide him a more traditional education, but Joseph seems content with his life so far.
Joseph Andrews’s education suggests that self-motivated education can be the equal to formal education, particularly for people with encouragement and access to books. While Joseph’s scholarly knowledge is perhaps not quite as wide-ranging as Adams’s, he also seems to have more common sense and less pretension.
Themes
Quiz
Test Yourself
Thomas Booby has quarrels with the local parish and doesn’t think much of Abraham Adams. But Mrs. Slipslop, the chambermaid, holds Abraham in high regard. The daughter of a curate, Mrs. Slipslop believes she knows more about religion than Abraham Adams does, and she argues theology with him. One day, Abraham mentions Joseph Andrews to Mrs. Slipslop and asks if there’s any chance the boy could be entrusted to his care to teach him Latin. Mrs. Slipslop, however, believes that such a request would offend Lady Booby, so she says no.
Mrs. Slipslop is the classic example of a character who knows a little about some topics but not enough to understand how little she knows. She demonstrates how even people of lower classes can be pretentious and look down on others around them.
Themes
Quiz
Test Yourself
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