Read Aloud the Text Content

This audio was created by Woord's Text to Speech service by content creators from all around the world.

Text Content or SSML code:

Book XVI brings the novel to its climax: it builds steadily through the collusion of Mrs. Western, Lady Bellaston, and Mrs. Fitzpatrick—each of whom harbors her own reason for wanting to contrive a marriage between Sophia and Lord Fellamar—and culminates in the duel between Tom Jones and Fitzpatrick. Fellamar's courtly status as a "lord" and the fact that he is one of the richest men in England appeals to Mrs. Western, who now calls Blifil a "vile" countryman. Her attitude contrasts with that of Squire Western, which sets the two fighting for control of Sophia in Chapter IV. Squire Western grows in the reader's estimation in this chapter since the narrator admits in Chapter III that Western "really doated on his Daughter, and to give her any Kind of Pleasure was the highest Satisfaction of his Life." Although Lady Bellaston has lost all chances with Tom, out of spite she wishes to keep him apart from Sophia. Mrs. Fitzpatrick is still trying to restore herself to the favor of her aunt and uncle by procuring a good marriage for Sophia. Fielding's philosophy about his prefacing chapters, expressed in Chapter I, contrasts with the finely designed linear narrative of Book XVI. By claiming that the prefacing chapters have been randomly placed and deserve no particular order, Fielding sets up a "timeless" axis as opposed to his "time-dependent" axis. His introductory chapters and intrusive philosophical musings belong to the former axis, while his highly contrived narrative belongs to the latter category.