Fielding's Education of Readers in "Tom Jones," Part Three

After establishing his credentials as an historian, the narrator proceeds to list the qualifications necessary to write such histories as his in the introductory chapter to Book IX. Beginning with Tom Jones, Fielding "begins to educate the public about the craft of writing a novel rather than simply attacking one that he deems bad" (Slagle 191).

The qualities Fielding cites as "necessary to this order of historians" are (1) Genius, (2) Learning, (3) Conversation, and (4) a Good Heart (Fielding 424-26). Genius consists of invention ("discovery or finding out"), and judgment (Fielding 424). This qualification expands on the idea that one should not judge someone without having true knowledge of all the circumstances surrounding the action, and the underlying motives. This admonition to the reader is displayed in Bliful; on the surface, his actions seem selfless and honorable the majority of the time. But the narrator lets the reader into the secret of Bliful's motives and so one sees that he is not selfless and honorable, but malicious and jealous. And so we are warned not to judge people by their appearances only.

Learning is, naturally, the sort one obtains through books and formal education. Conversation is learning of human nature, in all its varieties.

So necessary is this to the understanding the characters of men, that none are more ignorant of them than those learned pedants whose lives have been entirely consumed in colleges and among books; for however exquisitely human nature may have been described by writers, the true practical system can be learnt only in the world. (Fielding 425)

This observation goes to further show that appearances cannot always be counted on as a guide to one's character. It is only through extensive conversation that people will reveal their true identities. But one must have the necessary sagacity to be able to discern the undercurrents existing in people's conversations.

The fourth requisite, a Good Heart, is, simply put, empathy towards others. Fielding clearly proves, with his narrative commentary, that one must be able to put oneself in the other's place before attempting to pass judgment on their actions. Also by this qualification, Fielding "invites us to enlarge the boundaries of our sympathy, so as to include the ridiculous" (Wright 42). Fielding, in the foregoing chapters, has steered readers into sympathizing with people suffering misfortune, and now begins to teach us how to empathize with characters that are plainly comic (like Partridge). We do not sympathize with Partridge because of the misfortunes in his life, rather we are drawn to laugh at his absurdities and cannot help having a secret liking for him. Tom is well aware of Partridge's comic status, as indicated by taking him to see Hamlet so as to be amused by his reactions to it (Fielding 752).

In addition to setting down qualifications for writers of histories, Fielding elaborates on some of the stylistic techniques that may be used and those that should not be used. These are numerous, but only three will be discussed here: the "marvelous," the "supernatural," and "plagiarism." In the introduction to Book VIII, Fielding sets forth restrictions to writers as to the use of the 'marvellous' and the 'supernatural' (Fielding 346). First, he asserts writers must stay "within the bounds of possibility" and "probability" (Fielding 346). Also, Fielding cautions writers to use ghosts, which is the "only supernatural agents...allowed to [ ] moderns" very sparingly (Fielding 347). It seems clear here that Fielding is attempting to justify his coincidences that occur in the novel that may seem extraordinary to readers. He therefore wants us to accept that these coincidences, as surprising as they may be, are in the realm of possibility and probability.

This preface sets the stage for the appearances of Partridge and the Man of the Hill, which do have a touch of the marvelous about them. Partridge is the man supposed to be Tom's father, which he fervently denies to Tom, so Tom's meeting with him does seem rather coincidental and forced by the narrator. Partridge also brings the supernatural elements into the narrative, being extremely superstitious and terrified of ghosts, witches, etc. While Fielding never actually brings any ghosts into the narrative (unless one counts the ghost in Hamlet), he does cite them indirectly through Partridge's fear of them. But this is most likely intended "to burlesque the superstitious faith" of Fielding's countrymen, as the narrator attributes to being the reason for Homer