Vanity Fair How does Thackeray present Rebecca Sharp and Amelia Sedley in the opening chapters of Vanity Fair The novel takes place during the Napoleonic Wars and concerns the lives of two starkly contrasted girls Becky Sharp orphaned and poor but ingenious and Amelia Sedley sheltered daughter of a rich City merchant These two meet at Miss Pinkertons Academy for young ladies Sharps adventures begin with an attempt to marry Jos Sedley Amelias brother who is rich but dim She soon finds her way to