“When Mr. Alderman saw my Money, he said, well Madam, now I am satisfy’d you were wrong’d…”
This quote backs up my previous posts by emphasizing the importance of money especially in the case of women. This quote is yet another example of how a woman is looked on as useless unless she has money. In this situation Moll is only helped and believed once she shows that she has money.
“One of the greatest Dangers I was now in, was that I was too well known among the Trade, and some of them whose hatred was owning rather than Envy, then any injury I had done them began to be Angry, that I should always Escape when they were always catch’d and hurried to Newgate.”p. 169
Moll has now become very well known in the world of crime and she has learned to create different alias to hide her true identity. The people who she commits crime with are tending to get caught and she is not. This is angering the people and they are trying to find out who she really is. Even in jail she is known by the name Mrs. Flanders and they won’t catch her because they will never know her real name unless they follow her home but she knows that they follow her and she escapes them on the way home. She tells that in order to survive in the criminal world you must be cut throat and know how to cover your tracks.
“Here again my old Caution stood me in good stead; Namely, that tho’ I often robbed with these People, yet I never let them know who I was, or where I Lodg’d; nor could they ever find out my Lodging, tho’ they often endeavour’d to Watch me to it. They all knew me by the Name of Moll Flanders, tho’ even some of them rather believed I was she, than knew me to be so; my Name was public among them indeed; but how to find me out they knew not, nor so much as how to guess at my Quarters, whether they were at the East-End of the town, or the West; and this wariness was my safety upon all these occasions.”
The significance of this passage is the advice that Moll gives to the reader through her actions. Moll discusses how she doesn’t give those that she works information about where she lives or who she really is. The reason for this is so that if her associates get caught while committing crime, there is no way for them to drag her down with them. As she says “this wariness was the safety upon all these occasions,” she means that she is safe from getting caught during her criminal activity. She is also safe from those who she partners with in case they tried to harm her, as she notes that they have tried several times to follow her home.
“I had given the parents a just reproof for their negligence in leaving the poor little lamb to come home by it self and it would teach them to take more care of it another time.” pg. 154
This passage is spoken by Moll shortly after she robs the little girl when she is walking home from a dance lesson. Moll steals a 12 pound neck lass off the girl which is an extremely nice and expensive neck lass. When Moll says these lines she is “teaching a lesson” to the readers that are or soon to be parents. She is telling her readers to take more care of their children and not to be so loose with them letting their children run around un-supervised or they might be robbed or taken, like Moll had done to this little girl. Even more importantly in this passage, Moll is taking the blame off herself and putting it on the parents of the little girl for being robbed. She says it wasn’t her fault she robbed the little girl, but the parents fault for being so careless with their child and their fault for giving the little girl such an expensive neck less to wear to dance class. Moll has not accepted the responsibility for her actions and keeps on blaming everyone else for the bad things she does. This passage “teaches a lesson” to future or current parents reading this book and also takes the blame off Moll for the bad things she does and puts it on the parents.
“I had a weight of Guilt upon me enough to sink any creature who had the least power of Reflection left, and had any Sense upon them of the Happiness of this Life, or the Misery of another then; I had at first remorse indeed, but no Repentance.” This quote is said by Moll Flanders after she is imprisoned in Newgate for her crimes. Moll states that she is guilty, but is not repentant, which brings to light one of the message Defoe is trying to convey through this novel.
Once Moll begins her life of crime, one of the recurring themes is how being an outlaw has hardened her. Moll even states herself, “Once we are hardn’d in Crime, no Fear can affect us, no Example give us any warning.” Even with the terrors of Blackgate and the threat of the noose looming over her, Moll has a difficult time repenting her sins. Through her inability to repent, Defoe shows how poverty has hardened and corrupted a once decent woman almost to the point of no return. Even when her Governess, who has repented her wicked ways, sends a minister to Moll, she has difficulty feeling penitent about her crimes.
Moll’s inability to repent brings up an important question. Can criminals truly reform and rejoin society? Through Moll’s thoughts, the reader can see that if Moll were released, it is highly likely that she will repeat her crimes out of “necessity”. Defoe brings up an important issue that is still hotly debated today. But, even though Moll does not at first feel remorseful, in the preface it states that she dies a penitent. This brings up the other possibility that criminals might be able to change. Through presenting both sides of an argument, Defoe allows the reader to choose which side they believe themselves, through seeing life through a criminal’s eyes.
“With this Stock, I had the World to begin again; but you are to consider, that I was not ow the same woman as when I liv’d at Redriff, for first of all i was near 20 years older, and did not look the better for my age, nor for my Rambles to Virginia and back again; and tho’ I omitted nothing that might set me out to Advantage, except Painting, for that i never stoop’d to, and had Pride enough to think I did not want it, yet there would always be some difference seen between Five and Twenty, and Two and Forty.”
In this passage, Moll is explaining her concerns of finding a new husband and how it might be more difficult than before due to her age. She is not 42 years old, as she says “two and Forty,” and is aware that she does not look the same as she used to. While she is aware of this, she does everything she can to look her best, except for “painting.” Painting refers to painting of the face to look better, similar to makeup. However, Moll says that she never “stoop’d” to this level because painting was commonly used by actors and whores at this time. Also, Moll has referred to the amount of money that she has saved up following her husband’s death. She later describes her concerns about being in the position of being a single woman with money. She talks about how men will use her to get to her money, and claim that they love her and make promises to her along the way. At the same time, she knows that this is a dangerous position to be in and must protect herself and her money.
This passage is significant because it shows how Moll feels pressure to be as perfect as she can be in order to find another husband. Moll feels as if she must be beautiful in order to attract attention from men, and “omitted nothing” that could help her achieve this goal. Moll is also self conscious about her looks even more now due to her age, and realizes that time has affected her looks. She feels that she will have more difficulty finding a husband now that when she was “Five and Twenty.” Finally, Moll is aware that people may use her to get to her money, and later describes how she must be careful to protect the money that she has saved up and earned for herself.
In “The Campaign,” Zach Galifianakis is running against Will Ferrell to be the new mayor. Throughout the movie, each actor takes actions that continuously show a decline in their moral standards in order to sabotage the chances that their opponent wins. Galifianakis even hires somebody to help him change his image in order to look better to the public. However, this man changes Galifianakis so much that it ruins his family. At this point, Galifianakis realizes what he has become and decides to go back to making his own decisions. In the end, both opponents realize how they have treated each other and Will Ferrell allows Galifianakis to take the position.
Throughout the movie, the satyrical point of view is that of how serious a campaign for a position in government can be. While such campaigns are serious and can get rather heated, the way it is portrayed in the movie is exaggerated. In the movie, each actor performs actions to specifically sabotage his opponent. The point of this is to show how far things may be taken in a real life campaign.
“With this stock I had the world to begin again; but you are to consider that I was not now the same woman as when I liv’d at Redriff; for first of all I was near 20 years older, and did not look the better for my age, nor for my Rambles to Virginia and back again…”
The above quote is Moll describing her current financial status, and how she will use her wealth differently. The “stock” moll refers to is to the 480 pounds of gold that she owns, and her statement that she had the world to begin again is Moll stating that she now has the mobility of status that comes with her wealth. Moll is expressing her excitement in the fact that she can return to a similar lifestyle that she had when she was living at Redriff.
The Second part of the quote is Moll explaining that her mobility is limited by the fact that she is 20 years older than when she last had this type of wealth, and that she looks older than she really is, which will affect her ability to court men. At the end of the quote Moll seems to begin to realize how old she is getting and that her time to do exciting things is dwindling.
“And if a young Women have beauty, birth, breeding, wit, sense, manners, modesty, and all these to an extream; yet if she have no money, she’s no body, she had as good want them all, for nothing but money now recommends a women…”
This passage shows that at these times men are mostly interested in women for their money that is to their name. This makes being a widow all the most desirable for women, like Moll. These women have money to their name from their husband and land which makes them more “attractive” towards men. It says that women with beauty, manners, modesty and ect. are all qualities that men want in these women. But, however if they don’t have money than she’s a nobody. This shows how materialism is such a big quality in this society at this time.
“This was evidently my case, for I was now a loose unguided Creature, and had no help, no assistance, no Guide of my Conduct: I knew what I aim’d at, and what I wanted, but knew nothing how to pursue the End by direct means; I wanted to be plac’d in a settled State of Living, and had I happened to meet a good sober Husband, I should have been as faithful and true a Wife to him as virtue it self could have form’d: If I had been otherwise, the Vice came in always at the Door of Inclination”
Moll speaks of how the effects of social and economic pressures on a person can force them to do acts they do not approve of but are necessary to survive. She speaks of how she knows what she wanted and her goals towards a good husband. She tells that she didn’t know how to pursue her goals because of younger unguided life, where in most persons cases they have learned how to chase their dreams in life. She is unhappy because she wishes she could be a truthful wife to a respectful husband but the way in which she conducted herself has placed her into a state of necessity instead of a state of inclination. She now must cheatingly marry men who are drunk enough to be convinced by her looks and lies of money that she is good for marriage. They marry her and she ends up in a bad situation with a drunkard for a husband and her as a lying, deceitful wife. This quote can show that bad people aren’t always bad people they are just merely placed into bad situations with the pressure to survive.
Grove to Grubstreet 