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What was with sir thomas' weird sketchbook?

posted 16 years ago by Bride_Of_Walken
9 replies | jump to latest

What was with sir thomas' weird sketchbook that he knocked out of fanny's hands? Was that his?

I believe it was Tom Jrs book, and the implication of that in the scene was to show Sir Thomas in a different way despite how pious he appeared to be. Not sure if this is in the book.

[–] weaselfrance 16 years ago

It isn't in the book.

In the film, Tom went with his father to his plantations and saw him torturing and sexually abusing slaves. It's supposed to explain why Tom has such a poor relationship with his father. He drew pictures of this (not quite sure why). Fanny saw the sketch book and realised what sort of awful man her uncle was and he was angry and ashamed she knew this, so he took the book and destroyed it.

In the book, Tom behaves badly simply because he's a spoilt brat. He does travel with his father to the West Indies, but his father takes Tom to separate him from his usuitable friends. It doesn't work.

The people have appointed me. I am their leader. I must follow them.

[–] Jason_Radley 16 years ago

This was a Mirimax-BBC co-production. The thought of depicting a slave owning character in a positive light, faithful to the book, was obviously more than the poor darlings could bear.

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] macgirl66 14 years ago

I am a huge JA fan and have read all of her books many times. I also love this movie. Even said, I thought this addition to the movie was WEIRD, since it was not in the book at all, and really not needed. I think more people found it confusing than would have found it to have enhanced the plot. JMHO.

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] kaiser100 11 years ago

Many people of Jane Austen's time and class were aware of and opposed to slavery. Austen chose to avoid discussing almost anything not directly related to the circumstances of her books, but she was certainly aware of it. Abolitionism was a large force in Britain at the time, and ideas of the rights of all humans were sweeping the country in the wake of the French and American revolutions and the upheaval of the Industrial Revolution. In fact, several of the sketches in Sir Thomas' notebook were actually done by William Blake, the artist, writer and mystic who was a contemporary of Austen's and very critical of slavery.

[–] jennifer-milligan 11 years ago

Hi

Edward Said, the great intellectual, wrote that as the Bertrams had an estate in Antigua they would have made their money from slave plantations. One thing I do admire about this adaptation is that it is aware of Said's writings.

Readers back in the 1810's would have been aware what having estates in Antigua meant.

John Sutherland, a respected English professor, did write a defense of Fanny and Edmund stating that their membership of the evangelical wing of the Anglican church would have made them firm abolitists.

[–] 11 years ago

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