Ortolans, Partridges, and Pullets: Birds as Prey in Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones

Abstract

This chapter addresses the significance of the role of birds in Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones. Through narratorial description and comparison, Sophia Western is associated with physical and metaphorical birds throughout the novel. Looking at this association through an ecofeminist perspective suggests an equation between the often cruel treatment of birds and the cruel treatment or intended treatment of women, Sophia specifically. In addition to Sophia, Partridge’s bird association is more clearly defined through his name and adds greater depth to an ecofeminist reading through broadening the gender discussion. Named for a bird that is often hunted, Partridge embodies a vulnerability similar to Sophia’s. Despite consistently affiliating characters with vulnerable and fragile birds and hunted prey, Fielding’s novel allows for subversion of these associations and offers, at the very least, a reassessment of normalised gender stereotypes. Substantial and broad as is the scholarly canon on Fielding and Tom Jones, a thorough investigation of Fielding’s use of bird imagery is lacking, as is any kind of ecofeminist reading of the text; this chapter offers an opening of that door.