1. Book I, Chapters XIII through XVIII.
Analysis.
Fielding bestowed on his exemplary parson, Mr. Abraham Adams, a resoundingly biblical
and paternal name: the Adam of Genesis was the father of mankind, while Abraham was the
father of the people of Israel (and by extension, in the Christian tradition, of all the
faithful). Nor does Parson Adams fail to live up to his namesakes: as a dedicated clergyman
and the spiritual advisor of our young hero, he serves as the novel's moral touchstone,
which is to say that other characters reveal their own moral quality through their responses
to him. The goodness of Joseph Andrews shows through in his love and admiration of
Adams, while the parson's endless tribulations at the hands of others -- in the words of one
critic, Adams "is laughed at, maligned, physically bruised, confined, dismissed, humiliated,
and repeatedly made a butt for abuse" -- are an index of society’s alienation from Christian
values. Mr. Adams, of course, is not without his own flaws, which include forgetfulness,
naïveté, and mild vanity; all of these cause him to look foolish from time to time, and
Fielding does not shrink from joining in the laughter. The novelist's leading idea, however,
seems to be that anyone who exemplifies Adams's virtues of poverty and charity will
inevitably appear foolish by worldly standards.
Mr. Adams is, to begin with, physically eccentric: tall, thin, and strong, he is proud of his
athleticism but careless of his appearance, and Fielding never tires of recording his sartorial
lapses. Thus, in Chapter XVI, we learn: "He had on a Night-Cap drawn over his Wig, and a
short great Coat, which half covered his Cassock; a Dress which, added to something
comical enough in his Countenance, composed a Figure likely to attract the Eyes of those
who were not over-given to Observation." (This is in fact one of the less ridiculous chapters
in Fielding’s chronicle of Mr. Adams’s toilette.) Mr. Adams’s sartorial incompetence is only
one aspect of his inability to adapt himself to his surroundings: he is totally unworldly,
constantly losing track of his money or engaging to spend money he does not have; he is
perfectly humorless, with no sense of how others, such as the mocking Surgeon, perceive
him; he is endlessly gullible; and he is optimistic to a fault, as in his serene faith that his
sermons will find a publisher and take London by storm. All of these foibles have a common
denominator, namely Mr. Adams’s childlike innocence; seen in its proper context, then,
Adams’s physical shabbiness should only enhance our sense of his moral dignity.
All of Fielding's novels are crawling with clergyman characters, and Joseph
Andrewspresents several who serve as contrasts to the paragon Mr. Adams. In these
chapters, Mr. Barnabas shows himself to be perfectly sociable and impeccably orthodox but
not much interested in bettering the lot of his fellow-man: refreshing himself first with tea
and then with punch before approaching the bedside of the injured Joseph, he is clearly one
of those clergymen who looks on his vocation more as a platform for socializing than as a
sacrificial commitment. Barnabas's moral inadequacy is further limned in the discussion of
George Whitefield that emerges from Adams's fruitless negotiations with the Bookseller.
Mr. Barnabas's objection to Methodism has to do with its emphasis on clerical poverty:
Barnabas sees no reason why a clergyman in the Church of England should not be able to
amass as much luxury as anyone else, whereas both Adams and Fielding consider poverty
an ideal for the clergy, at least insofar as temporal concerns should not interfere with a
clergyman's charitable ministrations. Mr. Adams's objection to Methodism, which is also
Fielding's objection, has to do with its emphasis on faith over charity or good works: he
gives his opinion "that a virtuous and good Turk, or Heathen, are more acceptable in the
sight of their Creator, than a vicious and wicked Christian, tho' his Faith was as perfectly
orthodox as St. Paul's himself." For Adams, a man's formal religious commitments matter
far less than his active benevolence. Hearing this moral scheme, Mr. Barnabas exits the
scene and the novel in a manner that confirms his moral worthlessness: ringing the bell

2. "with all the Violence imaginable" in order to make his escape from Mr. Adams, he exiles
himself from the circle of approved characters.
Fielding does not expect the clergy alone to practice charity; rather, it is a standard that he
sets for the citizenry at large. Betty the chamber-maid is an interesting case in point
because Fielding's presentation of her conduct reveals that, despite all the uproar in the
novel over the virtue of chastity, he in fact prizes charity much more highly. When Joseph
arrives at the inn, Betty distinguishes herself through her willingness to assist him in his
need: when Mrs. Tow-wouse refuses to supply Joseph with either a shirt or a cup of tea,
Betty takes it upon herself to procure these items for him. Her other distinguishing
characteristic, however, is her sexual promiscuity: she has been "not entirely constant to
[her sweetheart] John, with whom she permitted Tom Whipwell the Stage-Coachman, and
now and then a handsome young Traveller, to share her Favours"; she also has "a Flame in
her," namely venereal disease, "which required the Care of a Surgeon to cool." This sexual
voracity aligns her with Lady Booby and Mrs. Slipslop, especially insofar as it prompts her
to make an attempt on Joseph's purity, and yet Fielding does not subject Betty to anything
like the level of criticism that we have seen in the previous two cases. As Simon Varey
notes, the scene in which Betty throws herself at Joseph perhaps makes Joseph look a bit
ridiculous, as he leaps away "in great Confusion" and tells her priggishly that "he was sorry
to see a young Woman cast off all Regard to Modesty"; by contrast, Betty's subsequent
impulses toward recrimination, while they do not reflect well on her, nevertheless do not
encourage readers to laugh at her in the manner of Lady Booby's mood swings or Mrs.
Slipslop's satirical embodiment as the "hungry Tygress." In keeping with the Preface's
definition of "the true Ridiculous," Betty never seems ridiculous because she has no
affectation; unlike Lady Booby and Mrs. Slipslop, she never sets herself above other people
or pretends to be sexually virtuous. Moreover, "[s]he had Good-nature, Generosity and
Compassion," as her previous behavior toward Joseph has demonstrated. Perfect sexual
continence outside marriage, then, appears in Fielding’s moral scheme to be similar to
doctrinal orthodoxy, laudable in a person who is otherwise benevolent but hardly the most
important moral quality.
Fielding even seems to suggest that there may be a connection, psychologically speaking,
between the disposition to perform acts of charity and the disposition to enjoy sex: anyone
who remembers that Mr. Tow-wouse dispatched Betty to give one of his own shirts to
Joseph before Mrs. Tow-wouse intervened should not be surprised, after the chambermaid's
rejection by Joseph, to find Betty and Mr. Tow-wouse once more in league together against
his wife. Mrs. Tow-wouse, too, occupies a familiar role, that of standing on the sidelines and
carping at her husband and the maid. Fielding's physical description of Mrs. Tow-wouse is
revealing: it reads in part, "Her Lips were two Bits of Skin, which, whenever she spoke, she
drew together in a Purse. Her Chin was peeked, and at the upper end of that Skin, which
composed her Cheeks, stood two Bones, that almost hid a Pair of small red Eyes." It is a
withered, pinched, sour countenance, and one may conjecture that Mrs. Tow-wouse is
scarcely more pleasant as a bedmate than as a giver of alms and succor. Fielding admires
honesty, straightforwardness, and fellow-feeling, no less in sexual relations than in normal
social interactions. Unlike his literary foil Richardson, he is never coy about sex, as will
soon be evident in respect of Joseph and Fanny, who despite (or because of) their goodness
are hardly less frank about their mutual attraction than are Betty and her many lovers.
BY FRK NIAZI