On the Hunt
On the road of life, everyone travels along at their own speed. Everyone has a goal to obtain, an objective to pursue, an aspiration to follow. In the romantic and comedic novel, Tom Jones, author Henry Fielding shows how his characters follow this path as well as search for their own needs. Some may be looking for love, others for wealth. All are following their individual desires. The story begins with the discovery of protagonist Tom Jones as a baby by Mr. Allworthy. Having lost his wife and children, Allworthy took in the abandoned boy and punished Jenny Jones and a man named Partridge, whom were thought to be Tom’s parents. Tom was raised with Blifil, the son of Allworthy’s sister, Bridget. Blifil is the antagonist and the opposite of Tom. The two were treated very differently, as Tom was an adopted bastard and Blifil was blood. Tom spent much time at the neighbor’s, Squire Western, where he gained the affection of his daughter, Sophia Western. Tom was then accused to have impregnated a poor servant Molly Seagrim. Allworthy became severely ill but recovered soon after, only to find that his sister had died. Western’s sister arrived in town and soon she and Western began to try to wed Sophia with Blifil, because he would inherit Allworthy’s estate. To eliminate his rival Tom, Blifil told Allworthy that he cavorted drunkenly about the house. Allworthy then banished him for this behavior. Sophia fled into the countryside as well to avoid marrying Blifil. After a mishap in an inn, where Tom was found fooling around with Mrs. Waters whom he saved from being raped, he escaped to London. Once in London, after being thrown in jail for stabbing a man who threatened him, his true status in the family was revealed. Blifil had been withholding a letter from Bridget to her brother saying that Tom was really her son, and not that of Jenny Jones, who was actually Mrs.