Fielding's control

One of the most surprising parts of the book for me was the discovery that Miss Bridget was the mother of Tom Jones. I'm not sure about the rest of you but I was completely blown away by this knowledge. I was so surprised and impressed that the thought never crossed my mind until Fielding introduced the idea himself, because I'm usually pretty good at figuring these kinds of things out. (I also loved the way Mrs Waters told Allworthy that she was not the mother, by seemingly contradicting herself; that was funny.) That might just reflect on my not very close reading of the text, but I also think it reflects on Fielding's writing ability. Professor Nadell mentioned when we were discussing Shamela that Fielding opposed Richardson's lack of control and use of 'raw experience' in his writing; and to me Fielding's ability to hide the identity of the mother of Tom Jones, demonstrates that use of his control. Throughout the book, Fielding gives plenty of hints that Miss Bridget is Tom's mother, but at the same time he makes sure the reader doesn't focus on them, by taking the reader's attention elsewhere. I remember at the beginning of the book I was doubtful whether Jenny Jones was really Tom's mother, it just seemed that the discovery was too easy and convenient, but somehow or other due to Fielding's tricky wording and innuendo, he managed to persuade me that she was. One such example was when Fielding hinted that Partridge was not the father of Tom Jones, by mentioning an 18 year old boy living in Partridge's home at the time. That really threw me on a loop, and throughout the book I wondered who the 18 year old boy was (was he a wealthy lord of some kind...), and he was a fake all along. But to get back to the point, Fielding did provide hints to the motherhood of Tom Jones from the very beginning, but he was able to fool me because he as the narrator had complete control over me throughout the book.
One example that demonstrates Fielding's hint that Miss Bridget is Tom's mother is on pages 49-50 when Miss Bridget and Deborah are listening at the keyhole to Allworthy's moralistic speech to Jenny; and Deborah criticizes Jenny to Miss Bridget for not revealing Tom's father, but to Deborah’s (and my) surprise Miss Bridget uncharacteristically commends the "honour and spirit with which Jenny had acted" (50). After finishing the book I realized that Miss Bridget's reaction makes perfect sense, after all it was in Miss Bridget’s best interest for Jenny not to reveal the identity of the father. But as I was reading the passage for the first time I thought that Miss Bridget's reaction to Miss Deborah was very uncharacteristic, even Fielding himself suggests it, which may be one of the reasons why I didn't read that much into it. Fielding as the narrator states, "The behavior of Miss Bridget greatly surprised Miss Deborah; for... she thought she might have launched forth with safety; and the sagacious reader will not perhaps accuse her of want of sufficient forecast in so doing, but will rather admire with what wonderful celerity she tacked about, when she found herself steering a wrong course" (50). In a way, not only does Miss Deborah have to get out of a sticky situation, so does Fielding, and they both did it the same way; but admiring Jenny for her “plainness”. This helps Deborah because she is able to steer away from disagreeing with her mistress; and it helps Fielding because it takes our attention away from the inconsistency of Bridget’s character by reinforcing her vanity and silliness. Therefore, the reader thinks that the inconsistency in Bridget’s character is most probably due to Bridget’s flightiness as opposed to a reflection on Fielding’s ability as a writer.
Basically the purpose of my long and protracted comment is to admire Fielding’s ability and intelligence as a writer. I’m really impressed with his control throughout the novel, he did not only control the plot, but he controlled me and the way I perceived the plot, he made me think whatever he wanted me too…which not all writers can do.