Joseph Andrews by Henry Fielding
Plot-Construction of the Novel:
Joseph Andrews lacks a united plot. The plot of the novel is somewhat rambling but still disciplined. In the novel, the author has projected the events in the shape of a journey that Adams experienced. The novel is a long string of incidents, events, actions, happenings, deeds, and episodes without a thematic idea to bind them together or unify them. Most of these incidents and events occur on the road, by the roadside, or in country houses. Though the incidents are dispersed, the unity is brought about by the recurrence of a theme. The recurrent themes in the novel establish some kind of unity in its structure of it. Themes like charity and appearance versus reality recur in the novel giving the events a sort of unity. The lack of an organic unity behind the events is not the only error in the structure of the novel. There are many digressions in the novel that further disrupt the structure. There are stories within the main story. We find three such stories-the stories of Leonora and Jilt, the story of Mr. Wilson, and the story of two friends. These stories have hardly anything to do with the principal figures in the novel. Joseph Andrews is a work of experience gathered by its author in different levels of life and society. The journey motif is important for the unity of the plot in the novel.
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