Q2 / Discuss briefly Chapter Two

In Chapter Two, Fielding introduces “Mr. Joseph Andrews, the Hero of our ensuing History.” Joey, as Fielding and his characters call the hero at this stage of the narrative, is the son of the low-born Mr. and Mrs. Andrews and the brother of Pamela Andrews, the fictive heroine of Samuel Richardson’s famous novel. Fielding confesses that, despite his best genealogical efforts, he has been unable to discover the ancestry of the Andrews family. Jokingly, he asks the reader to contemplate the possibility that the Andrews family has no ancestors at all, though of course they must be descended from someone. Fielding is satirizing the social convention whereby only families of high standing are considered to be “families” in the proper and exalted sense; accordingly, a person who lacks ancestors of note is said, in this snobbish idiom, to lack ancestors altogether. From his comment on the arbitrary nature of social distinctions, Fielding goes on to argue for the suitability of Joey as a hero: “Would it not be hard, that a Man who hath no Ancestors should therefore be render’d incapable of acquiring Honour, when we see so many who have no Virtues, enjoying the Honour of their Forefathers?”

Fielding summarizes Joey’s early biography. At age ten he went to work in the household of Sir Thomas Booby, his initial job being to scare birds; he failed at this task, however, because his sweet voice tended rather to attract them. His second job was to keep Sir Thomas’s hounds in line with a whip, but he failed at this task for a similar reason. His third job was to ride Sir Thomas’s horses in races, which task he performed so well through his combination of athleticism and invulnerability to corruption that Lady Booby noticed him and, when he was seventeen, began to employ him as a footman. Joey’s new responsibilities involved attending Lady Booby everywhere, including at church, where his singing voice and general good conduct attracted the notice of the curate, Mr. Adams.