Vanity Fair: A Fouler View: A Reflection Piece

 by Ms Hill

Like everybody during these strange and uncertain times I have enjoyed returning to the comfort and security of well-known entertainments; whether this is watching Gilmore Girls for the 18^th time, listening to far too many Disney soundtracks or re-reading literary classics I haven’t read since school. However, re-reading the classics has proven to be far from comforting. Outdated and problematic views abound, forcing me to the question my love for these literary troves. The most recent challenge: Vanity Fair. 

For those of you unfamiliar with the novel, Vanity Fair is a satirical novel by William Makepeace Thackeray, published serially from 1847 to 1848. It follows the fortunes of two young ladies through Regency society. Praised as a literary masterpiece by critics before the serial had even concluded, it is considered today a classic of 19^th century literature and regularly appears on lists, such as, the BBC's The Big Read poll of the UK's best-loved books, Waterstones’ Books You Should Read and the Independent’s 40 Books To Read Before You Die. And for good reason, Thackeray is a master of satire, wit and literary flair; his style is not to be faulted. The same can not be said for his content. Scattered throughout the novel are scenes of blatant racism, which unlike the sexism and classism Thackeray so scathingly satirises, are presented by the author in a positive moral light. 

In the very first chapter, as the two female protagonists prepare to leave school, the reader is introduced to their classmate “Miss Swartz, the rich woolly-haired mulatto¹ from St. Kitt's” (Thackeray, p.10) who is the focus of the majority of Thackeray’s racial tirades. Her very name, “Swartz”, is from the German “Scwhartz”, meaning “black.” Miss Swartz, who “pays double” for the privilege of attending the young ladies academy, is the daughter of a Jewish slave owner and is a very wealthy heiress. Her vast fortune allows her entry into society despite the colour of her skin, however, Thackeray makes it clear that she does not belong there. The purpose of Miss Swartz’s character is purely as one of Thackeray’s satirical whips with which the greed of the British bourgeoisie is lashed. For the sake of her money, the upper classes hold their noses and overcome their sense of genteel propriety. 

In no one is this greed seen more than in Mr Osbourne, who wishes his son to forsake his betrothed and marry the heiress. The younger George Osborne refuses the match (partly for love of his betrothed) as beneath him: 

“Marry that mulatto woman?” George said, pulling up his shirt-collars. “I don’t like the colour, sir. Ask the black that sweeps opposite Fleet Market, sir. I’m not going to marry a Hottentot Venus.” (emphasis in the original text). (Thackeray, p.240)

This, to contemporary audiences, shocking declaration, far from damaging George’s character, sets him up as the moral superior to his father. The elder Mr Osbourne, is looked down upon for overlooking Miss Swartz’s origins and it is George who is presented as the moral superior for not belittling himself for her fortune. 

It is George Osbourne again, who delivers this description of Miss Swartz, which far from shocking the ladies it is told to, wins him praise as a wit:

"My sisters say she has diamonds as big as pigeons' eggs," George said, laughing. "How they must set off her complexion! A perfect illumination it must be when her jewels are on her neck. Her jet-black hair is as curly as Sambo's. I dare say she wore a nose ring when she went to court; and with a plume of feathers in her top-knot she would look a perfect Belle Sauvage."  (Thackeray, p.227)

It is not only the Osbourne family who express these offensive views. The novel’s innocents, the Sedley family, also express racially prejudiced views. The son of the family, Joseph Sedley, is in the service of the East India Company, stationed as a Collector in India. Although the parents are concerned about his marrying the social climber, Becky Sharpe, they reflect that “The girl's a white face at any rate”(Thackeray, p.37) and “Better she, my dear, than a black Mrs. Sedley, and a dozen of mahogany grandchildren."(Thackeray, p.61). In a stark contrast to Miss Swartz’s, Becky Sharpe is preferred as a candidate for marriage despite her poverty and low birth simply due to her white face. 

Add to this the inclusion of a black servant referred mainly to as “Black Sambo”, the central families fortunes coming from sugar plantations and that the gallant soldier characters have just returned from being stationed in St Kitt’s, where they were defending the plantation owners in recent slave rebellions and this literary masterpiece becomes rather unpalatable. 

These latter examples are stereotypical of 18^th and 19^th century literature (Austen’s Mansfield Park revolves around an estate financed by a planation, the plot of Dicken’s Oliver Twist is driven by anti-Semitic views), scholars in Victorian studies have written extensively about the centrality of colonialism, imperialism, racism, and xenophobia in the production of the novel. However, I would argue that in his use of the character of Miss Swartz, Thackeray goes beyond the casual racism we sometimes experience in Victorian literature. The mulatto heiress is a cruel caricature, lacking all autonomy, held up as a mirror to ridicule her white peers.  

The smallest anecdotes from Thackeray’s own life serves to illustrate his position and views:
- Before his marriage, Thackeray’s father, Richmond Thackeray, a tax Collector of a district near Calcutta, fathered a daughter by his Indian mistress. William Makepeace never acknowledged his biracial sister.
- After a literary tour of America he declared himself a staunch supporter of the Confederacy and slavery.
Not the most progressive of men even by 19^th century standards.

In the light of this rereading I have to ask myself why this novel still appears on so many recommendation lists, have these people actually read the book or is it simply included for the sake of its classic status. Moreover, does this classic status mean it is given a pass for the offensive content? While all good literary critics consider the context in which a work is written; I believe we should think twice before recommending, with such reverence, books which promote harmful, outdated values. 

 

Bibliography

BBC 2014. The Big Read, Top 100. Retrieved 2020: https://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top100.shtml
Independent 2020. Ceri Radford. 40 Books To Read Before You Die. Retrieved 2020: https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/books-best-greatest-read-you-die-classic-novels-literature-austen-orwell-dickens-mantel-a9255191.html
Thackeray, William Makepeace. (2001). Vanity Fair, A Novel without a Hero. Penguin Books: London.
Waterstones 2020. Books You Should Read. Retrieved 2020: https://www.waterstones.com/campaign/books-you-should-read

Glossary

1Regency society used a variety of graded terms for people of mixed heritage. These terms, including “mulatto” and “sambo”, indicated the level of someone’s purity by measuring the percentage of their white parentage. 
The following explains the categories used throughout the colonial period:

Negro – a black person with two black parents of African origin, but who might have been born in Jamaica and hence might be referred to as a creole.

Creole – any person, whether black, white or mixed race born in a British colony, although over time this has tended to be thought of as referring to someone of mixed race.

Mulatto – a person with one negro and one white parent.

Sambo –  a person with one parent a negro and the other mulatto i.e one quarter white.

Quadroon – the child of a white person and a mulatto i.e. one quarter black, with one grandparent of African origin.

Mustee, Mestee or Octaroon – a person who is one-eighth black i.e. with one black great grandparent.