“Tom Jones” by Henry Fielding (post 8): Multiple narrators conclude

“Thus, reader, we have at length brought our history to a conclusion, in which, to our great pleasure, though contrary, perhaps, to thy expectation, Mr Jones appears to be the happiest of all humankind: for what happiness this world affords equal to the possession of such a woman as Sofia, I sincerely own I have never yet discovered” (1, p. 868).

At the beginning of the passage, “we” and “our” initially prompt me to think that the narration is using the plural to promote a feeling of solidarity with the reader.

But since, immediately following, “contrary…to thy” promotes distance from the reader, I change my initial opinion to an inference that the narration had merely begun with plural self-reference.

And then the paragraph concludes with “I,” which is singular self-reference.

Thus, the above passage repeats what I have noted previously: the narration is inconsistent in its self-reference, as though there were at least two narrator personalities, one with a plural, and the other with a singular, self-image.

Another way of looking at the above paragraph is that a single narrator is trying to have it both ways: promoting solidarity with the reader, but seeing himself as only one person. That’s probably the majority view. But the other things I noted in my previous posts make me prefer my interpretation, or at least think it’s worth considering.

1. Henry Fielding. [The History of] Tom Jones [A Foundling] [1749]. Edited by John Bender and Simon Stern. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2008.