Why vanity fair is a novel without a hero

They are woven around the two female leads, Amelia and Rebecca Becky. Amelia is an epitome of virtue, Becky flirts with vice. Amelia is born rich but can stay happy even in bankruptcy, Becky is poor and an orphan but is capable and ready to do whatever is necessary to win herself a place in the world. War, bankruptcy, scandal, infidelity rock them about, and they both choose their paths as per the dictates of their characters. And the story moves on, fast-paced and never lagging in interest, forcing the reader to turn page after page.

And to rise up in fortune and society, she is willing to sink down to any depth. All in all, Vanity Fair is a masterpiece and a brilliant literary classic. Not an easy read, but a very engrossing and satisfying one definitely. Your email address will not be published. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Thanks so much for sharing your review, it was great to hear your thoughts! Thanks for the message. It was great hearing your thoughts about the book too.

Amid the swirl of London's posh ballrooms and affairs of love and war, their fortunes rise and fall. Through it all, Thackeray lampoons the shallow values of his society, reserving the most pointed barbs for the upper crust. What results is a prescient look at the dogged pursuit of wealth and statusand the need for humility.

Read more Allow this favorite library to be seen by others Keep this favorite library private. Save Cancel. Find a copy in the library Finding libraries that hold this item Vanity Fair is a story of two heroinesone humble, the other a scheming social climberwho meet in boarding school and embark on markedly different lives.

Reviews User-contributed reviews Add a review and share your thoughts with other readers. Be the first. Add a review and share your thoughts with other readers. Tags Add tags for "Vanity fair : a novel without a hero". British -- Europe -- Fiction. Female friendship -- Fiction. Social classes -- Fiction. Married women -- Fiction. England -- Fiction. Female friendship. Married women. Social classes. Belgium -- Waterloo. Becky does have her brushes with society but is never accepted in it.

Becky gets too far in with Lord Steyne and from there her efforts are ruined, she loses her husband and son and flees the country. Amelia is quite a different character. She is humble and does not feel the pull of society. Her obsession is with her intended, George Osborne, pertinacious punk that he is. We as readers quickly discover that narcissistic George cares nothing for our poor lady. At this point the elder men become so enraged with each other that both forbid the wedding of their two children who had been betrothed almost since birth.

Eventually, George does marry Amelia, only to punish his father for asking him to marry a mixed-race heiress. George dies in war shortly after their elopement and Amelia is left pregnant and alone. She cannot forget her perfect George and is completely blind to his faults.

She makes her life a shrine to her late husband and focuses on raising his son. He has always loved her since George first introduced them. In fact, it was Dobbin who convinced George to go through with the wedding to Amelia so that Amelia could feel happy. He is nothing but a friend in her eyes and when he realizes that, he leaves for India to try to forget her.

In the very end, these two are united many years later after Becky shows Amelia a note, proof that George had been unfaithful just a week after their wedding and had asked Becky to run away with him- to save him from what surely would have been a boring life with Amelia.

During our discussion, people came out either strongly in favor or opposed to Becky. I was the main voice of protest.

Beginning the story, I found Becky to be OK. I understood that she had to take care of herself and needed to be brusque at times in order to achieve these ends. Relatively early on in the novel, Thackeray shows us just how fake Becky is. One scene that displays this perfectly is when Becky is parting from Amelia and is in absolute tears.