Tom Jones by Henry Fielding summary

 

The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling

Mr. Squire Allworthy, a wealthy landowner and philanthropist widely known for his kind heart and generous works of charities, finds an infant boy in his bed and decides to look after him like a son. Mr. Allworthy lives with his single sister, Bridget, and they employ an elderly servant, Mrs. Wilkins. Mr. Allworthy names the baby Thomas, after himself. It soon comes to light, through Mrs. Wilkins's investigations, that someone named Jenny Jones is likely the mother of the child. Mr. Allworthy as magistrate calls her before him, and she owns the child but will not reveal the name of the father, saying she is honor bound and obliged for now to keep his name secret.

After giving some counselling to Jenny, Mr. Allworthy sends her away so she can make a fresh start where nobody knows her, and he also provides her necessary amount to live. After further investigation Mrs. Wilkins uncovers the name of the father, Mr. Partridge, the local schoolmaster, who has been accused by his wife of fathering the child. Jenny was a servant in the Partridge household. When Partridge comes before Mr. Allworthy, he strongly denies paternity. But Mr. Allworthy is less merciful with him and expelled from his job.  Mr. Partridge loses his school, and after his wife dies he leaves the area in destitution.

Mr. Allworthy has regular guests, including Dr. Blifil, who invites his brother, Captain Blifil, to Mr. Allworthy's table. Bridget and the Captain hit it off, and marries, later have a child. The young Blifil is to be brought up with little Tom. Captain Blifil dies after a few years of marriage. Mr. Allworthy hires two tutors for the boys: Reverend Thwackum and Mr. Square, a philosopher, with opposing views of morality that Mr. Allworthy hopes will balance each other out. What the tutors have in common, however, is hypocrisy. Both favor Blifil and dislike Tom because Blifil is better at pretending to mind them and Tom has a wild streak and does not always show proper respect.

Tom befriends Black George, Mr. Allworthy's gamekeeper (look after the estate), who has a large family and is often short of money. To help him out Tom pilfers food and money, which gives him the reputation as a thief. By the time Tom is about 20 he begins getting into trouble with women, specifically, he has sexual relations with Molly Seagrim, the daughter of Black George, who gets pregnant, but whose baby might actually belong to her previous lover Will Barnes. Tom is in love with Sophia, however, Squire Western's daughter, and she feels the same. Tom promises to take care of Molly's child but gives up the idea of marrying her when he finds her in bed with Mr. Square (the tutor of Tom and master Blifil).

Mrs. Western, happened to notice that Sophia is in love with Blifil, in fact she mistakes in identifying sophia’s affection. She tells Squire Western to arrange a match with Blifil, and when the older Westerns find out she despises him and doesn't wish to marry Blifil.  But she  was convinced by Mr and Mrs. Western that Blifil is the only heir of all the fortunes of Mr. Allworthy. Squire Western forces her to entertain Blifil and is preparing for an immediate marriage. Mr. Allworthy consents with the provision that Sophia voluntarily agree.

Meanwhile Blifil and the tutors are continually served up and filled Mr. Allworthy's ears with the sins of Tom, often telling half-truths so that Tom can be presented as the worst culprit. After Tom gets into a fist fight with Blifil and Thwackum, Mr. Allworthy throws him out but gives him £500 to make a new beginning in somewhere else. This was too unbearable for Tom, as he admired him very much. He was in great grief having identified the secret mission of Blifil and the tutors. In the meantime he losses the entire amount, which was taken by Black George. 

 

Ostracized into a new world and having no money, Tom decides to become a volunteer with some soldiers he meets. Tom meets up with a group of soldiers at the inn. They drink together. One soldier, Northerton claims to know Sophia Western and says she has slept with half the young men of Bath. Tom gets angry and they fight eventually gives him head injury. Northerton escapes. Tom leaves and meets a barber called Partridge who speaks a little Latin. They become friends and tom shares all his stories with him. Partridge convinces Tom to return home and restores himself to the good graces of Mr. Allworthy. When Tom recovers, the two began to travel again.

Tom rescues Mrs. Waters from an attacker and brings her to another inn. He ends up in bed with her shortly thereafter. Staying at the inn is Sophia's cousin, Mrs. Fitzpatrick, who is running away from her Irish husband. Fitzpatrick arrives at the inn and hears that there is a lady in bed with Tom. Fitzpatrick bursts out to Tom. In the meantime Sophia has also arrived at the same inn. She is with her maid, Mrs. Honour, and is running away from her father so she doesn't have to marry Blifil. She learns that Tom is at the inn and asks to see him, but Partridge tells Mrs. Honour he is with a wench. Sophia leaves in an irritation, leaving her favourite ring over there.

Tom is distraught when he realizes he has missed Sophia and perhaps lost her for good because of his faithless behavior. He picks up her trail at a nearby inn, where a post boy tells him she is headed to London. Tom now heads in the direction of London to find out Sophia.

Tom arrives in London and happens to meet Lady Bellaston, a relation of Mrs. Western, he enquires about Sophia. Since Bellaston, a single woman of an older age, she feels a special affection with the handsome look of Tom.

Tom is staying with Mrs. Miller, an old friend of Mrs. Allworthy's who runs a boarding house, and he becomes friends with another boarder, Mr. Nightingale. Meanwhile Tom struck with lady Bellaston. She flirts with Tom and lures him to a house where they spend the night together. Bellaston asks Tom about Sophia, and he assures her he simply wants to see her one more time. She promises to make that happen. In the meantime she gives Tom money and dresses him in fine clothes, and Tom feels obligated to continue sleeping with her. At one point Bellaston is forced to invite Tom to her house, and he accidentally runs into Sophia and learns for the first time she is staying there. Tom and Bellaston pretend not to know each other, while they met.

Lord Fellamar, a friend of Bellaston has fallen in love with Sophia and wants to make a courtship with her. Sophia was uninterested, so Fellamar decides to rape her so she will have to marry him to save her honor. Bellaston reluctantly agrees to this plan, and when he is alone with her he begins to make advances but is  interrupted when her father arrives in a rage looking for his daughter. Squire Western has tracked Sophia down in London and takes her back to his lodgings, again forcing the marriage with Blifil. Soon after Mrs. Western also arrives in London to advance the marriage plan.  

Tom gets into a fight at Mr Fitzpatrick’s house and stabs him with his sword. Fitzpatrick is expected to die and Tom was arrested.  In the prison Tom finds out from Partridge that Mrs. Waters is Jenny Jones, and he tells Tom he slept with his mother. Tom becomes emotionally unsettled.

But Mrs. Waters directly come and reveals the truth  that she is not his mother. Soon after, she visits Mr. Allworthy and tells him that Tom is the son of Allworthy’s sister Bridget and a young student called Summers. During this period of time Mr. Allworthy learns that Blifil is contriving to destroy Tom and also learns other important facts that put Tom's transgressions in a different light. He realizes that Blifil is a villain. He also learns that Blifil concealed a letter from his mother, written on her death bed, in which she says Tom is her son.

Mr. Allworthy now visits Sophia to apologize about allowing her father to torture her with the idea of marrying Blifil, and he makes a case for Tom. When Western learns that Mr. Allworthy is banishing Blifil and that Tom is his nephew, he immediately switches his allegiance. Tom and Mr. Allworthy reunite. Sophia forgives Tom decides to marry him.

 

Previous University questions

1    1. What attitudes towards marriage does Fielding illustrate in Tom Jones ?

The author was of the opinion that marriage must be based on mutual love, trust and respect. It is the core aspect of happiness.

-          Mentions the ladies who suffers from marriage

-          The frustrated life of Lady Bellaston, Jenny Jnoes and Mrs. Fitzpatrick etc.

2  2. What do you understand by the phrase 'Fiction as History' ?

-          Explain the complete title of the novel, author’s intention

-          Mixing the forms

-          Realistic accounts

-          As a social document

-          At once serious and comic

3  3. Discuss Fielding's narrative strategies in Tom Jones.

-The narrators of Fielding's Tom Jones focus on the omniscient point of view in which the third-person narrative is outside the story referring to characters either by their name or by the pronouns, “he, she and they”. An omniscient narrator is more able to present a complete and unbiased story.

- Style and techniques.

4    4. Discuss the feminist concerns in Tom Jones.

    5. Discuss the representation of female characters in Tom Jones.

    6. Discuss the role of comic characters in Tom Jones with suitable examples.