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Vanity fair, thackeray’s panoramic, satirical saga of corruption at all levels of english society, was published in 1847 but set during the napoleonic wars. it chronicles the lives of two women who could not be more different: becky sharp, an orphan whose only resources are her vast ambitions, her native wit, and her loose morals; and her schoolmate amelia sedley, a typically naive victorian heroine, the pampered daughter of a wealthy family. becky’s fluctuating fortunes eventually bring her to an affair with amelia’s dissolute husband; when he is killed at waterloo, amelia and her child are left penniless, while becky and her husband rawdon crawley rise in the world, managing to lead a high life in london solely on the basis of their shrewdness. (the chapter entitled “how to live on nothing” is a classic.) thackeray’s subtitle, “a novel without a hero,” is understating the case; his view of humanity in this novel is distinctly bleak and deliberately antiheroic. critics of the time misunderstood the book, decrying it as (among other things) vicious, vile, and odious. but vanity fair has endured as one of the great comic novels of all time, and a landmark in the history of realism in fiction.

Captains courageous is a wonderful story of a pampered and indulged boy, the son of a millionaire, named harvey cheyne. he has no responsibilities and is given anything he wants. he lacks respect for anyone and that includes himself. he is washed overboard from a luxury liner while on a trip with his mother and is picked up by a fisherman. the fishing boat can not return him immediately because they have a crew that needs to earn a living. harvey’s family presumes that he is dead, drowned at sea. the story of harvey’s growing up involves responsibilty, hard work, trust and honor.