Food
The narrator invokes the motif of food in relation to the process of writing,
the process of reading, love, and war. He begins the novel by referring to
himself as a Restauranteer who will provide the reader with a feast. He later
defines lust as a person's appetite for a good chunk of white flesh.
Travel
Where the narrator opens the novel with a reference to food, he concludes the
novel with a reference to travel, casting himself as the reader's fellow
traveler. This represents the culmination of a travel motif throughout the
novel. As the characters journey from the country to the city, the narrator
includes himself as a fellow traveler, remarking that he will not plod through
the journey, but will hasten and slow down as he pleases.
The Law
The narrator infuses his language—and the speech of his
characters—with legal terms. For example, after a petty domestic argument
with Squire Western, Mrs. Western refers to their reconciliation as the
signing of a "treaty." Such examples reveal the narrator's technique of
hyperbole—he uses technical jargon to build up events that are actually
irrelevant. However, there are also cases in which the narrator's legal motif is
genuine, as both Allworthy and Western are Justices of the Peace, and
the lawyer Dowling plays a large part in the plot against Tom.
The Stage
It is noteworthy that Fielding constantly alludes to the theater, since his
novel is in some ways more "dramatic" than it is "literary." The motif of the
stage reminds one that Fielding thinks of his characters as "actors."
Nevertheless, the fact that Fielding refuses to provide detailed visual
descriptions of his characters slightly undermines his theatrical motif.
Clearly, he wishes to vacillate between the visual world of the dramatic and the
written word of the prose novel.
