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Book 2, Chapter 4
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
Back in the present, Abraham Adams gets out of the coach and goes right to the inn’s kitchen. Joseph Andrews, who was on the horse, is already by the fire, getting his leg treated for an injury caused by Adams’s horse’s constant tendency to kneel. The innkeeper at the new place is a less agreeable host than Mr. Tow-wouse. He doesn’t like the way his wife is tending to Joseph’s injury. Adams gets offended on Joseph’s behalf, and this devolves into a fight, which ends when the innkeeper’s wife intervenes by throwing hog’s blood at Adams.
Kneeling is common in Anglicanism (the type of Christianity that Adams likely preaches), so the joke is that Adams’s horse kneels just like its master does. Adams’s horse probably doesn’t literally kneel—it is just an old horse that isn’t very steady on its legs. Adams doesn’t have a large salary, so he can’t afford a better horse.
Themes
Abraham Adams and the innkeeper have no desire to renew their fight. Adams is covered in hog’s blood, which many onlookers believe to be his own. People at the inn argue about whether the innkeeper should press charges against Adams, who threw the first punch. Eventually Adams and the other occupants of the coach reconvene, with Adams planning to go off on his own on horseback while the others continue their coach journey. Joseph Andrews is allowed to go inside the coach this time.
One of the recurring jokes about Adams is that even though he’s a clergyman who supposedly preaches about peace, he is very willing to get into fights and actually pretty good at throwing a punch. Adams isn’t a bully, but his zeal to defend his own ideas and to protect others makes him surprisingly violent.
Themes
