The History of Tom Jones,a Foundling,The History of Tom Jones , a Foundling (1749),Structure,The book follows the form of “comic epic in prose”. It consists of 18 books ,which are divided into 3 sections ,6 books for each. It is well-balanced and carefully planned .The story absorbs the features of family novel （家庭小说),novel of incidents (冒险小说)and Picaresque novel (流浪汉小说）.,汤姆琼斯全书共十八卷，每卷前面都有一篇序文。按照故事发生的背景，全书可以分为三大部分：第一部分，自第一卷至第六卷，以偏僻的外省为背景，以索美塞得州奥尔华绥和魏思特恩这两个乡绅的家庭生活为中心，描写英国乡村的生活；第二部分，自第七卷至第十二卷，是写由乡村到伦敦路上的情景，主要是写琼斯和苏菲娅由乡间到伦敦途中的困苦颠沛和种种冒险，小说中的重要人物在这里先后出场；第三部分，自第十三卷至第十八卷，场面移到伦敦，以都市生活为背景，反映伦敦的城市环境，使小说的主人公与社会地位、观点、习惯各各不同的人物接触，着重暴露上层社会腐朽糜烂的生活，当中插入贝娜斯登夫人和费拉谟伯爵这一类堕落的上层人物，使小说情节更加复杂，而由于方正先生死前的遗书，律师道林的自供，瓦脱夫人的追叙往事，使小说进入最后的结局。,The story gives a panoramic view of 18th century English life with scores different places and a whole gallery of characters. Fielding attacked social injustice ,hypocrisy ,vice and corruption in the government and defended the rights and dignity of the poor and the unfortunate. 小说极其广泛地描写了18世纪英国社会的图景，达到了前所未有的程度。作者批判了以金钱、门第为基础的婚姻，揭露了贵族阶级的腐朽和种种社会罪恶现象，同时也表现了下层劳动人民的淳朴和善良。,The Theme,49 characters Mr. Allworthy: a wealthy and generous squire Tom is described as an upright ,frank, kind-hearted young man, who may sometimes be very rash and commit rather serious errors, particularly in his relations with women, yet who is always ready to help others and never tries to harm anyone for his own benefit. Blifil pretends to be extremely moral and selfless , but actually he always thinks up tricks and imposes them on the other people.,Characterization,Sophia represents the young woman of the day with sufficient courage and independence to defy the bad world . Her character and behavior were rather advanced in her time , when the compulsory marriage was universally prevailing. Partridge is a Jack-of-all-trades(万金油,博而不精的人).He is a simple ,good-natured but a little whimsical fellow, and a very faithful companion to Tom.,Characterization,菲尔丁的法国研究者狄桑说：“这部书(即指汤姆琼斯)是一个庞大的有机体，在这里，人物好象皆是些器官。每一器官在它的自己的位置上扮演它的一部分角色，而在整体的总进展中完成它的任务。菲尔丁以前的小说家没有一个象这样重视严格的结构的。”俄国文艺批评家车尔尼雪夫斯基把汤姆琼斯和果戈里的死魂灵相比拟。法国小说家斯汤达称誉汤姆琼斯为小说中的伊利亚特 。而文学史家常以汤姆琼斯与俄狄浦斯王和炼丹术者并列，认为它是结构最完美的三大世界名著之一。,Thank you,