W. W. Thackeray “Vanity Fair”

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Text Analysis. W. W. Thackeray “Vanity Fair” W. W. Thackeray “Vanity Fair” William Makepeace Thackeray was an English novelist of the 19th century. His most famous work, “Vanity Fair”, was first published in 1847–48. This novel represents a panoramic portrait of English society in early 19th-century Britain and it is written with power and brilliance. The author satirizes society and attacks the most common vices of the upper classes such as money-worship, reverence for ranks and titles, hypocrisy, cruelty and corruption. The book's title comes from John Bunyan's allegorical story The Pilgrim's Progress, first published in 1678 and still widely read at the time of Thackeray's novel. Vanity fair refers to a stop along the pilgrim's progress: a never-ending fair held in a town called Vanity, which is meant to represent man's sinful attachment to worldly things. The plot develops around people` s feelings, their choice between career and family. The action takes place in England. We can find some facts of it in the text: “…in a great party in a spending saloon… that officer imparted it to Lord Steyne`s gentleman…” In this story the author touches upon relations between people of different classes of society. The main idea of this extract is Becky` s aspiration for being rich and famous and her family, mostly her son. Little Rawdon was generous and soft in heart, but his mother disliked him, as his presence was “a reproach and a pain to her”. The boy somehow prevented her from making her way into high society. Rawdon suffered a lot because of the absence of his mother’s care and attention to him. The servants in Rebecca’s house were always there, observing and noticing, passing their sentence on the masters. That’s why W.M.Thackerey called them “the awful kitchen inquisition”, juxtaposing so different in sphere of usage words “kitchen” and “inquisition” to heighten
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