Vanity Fair, Chapter 17 summary
Chapter 17 of 68 · 14 min to read the chapter
In Chapter 17, Captain William Dobbin buys Amelia Sedley’s piano at the auction of her ruined family’s belongings and sends it to their cramped refuge. Rebecca and Rawdon Crawley discover the disaster while seeking useful acquaintances, and their comfortable marriage depends on credit while Miss Crawley refuses contact.
What happens
- The narrator describes auctions as occasions that expose loss, selfishness, and the collapse of former grandeur.
- Rawdon and Rebecca buy an elephant portrait, but Dobbin outbids them for Amelia’s small piano.
- The Sedleys shelter with their clerk after John Sedley’s bankruptcy, and the piano arrives there that evening.
- Jos supplies money from a distance, while a gift of silver from grateful stockbrokers moves his father to tears.
- Rebecca keeps Rawdon happy in their secluded marriage, while Miss Crawley rejects his approaches and creditors remain uninformed.
- Leaving the auction, Rawdon suggests Osborne may abandon Amelia, and Rebecca dismisses the likely pain.
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In this chapter
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What most visibly lifts John Sedley’s spirits after his financial failure?
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