Moll Flanders fits into the modern definition because she does rebel against the social norms of her day. Despite being a servant/maid, she is zealously courted by one brother for marriage and by the other brother as merely a lover. As the novel progresses and Moll Flanders develops as a character, she learns the power of saying ‘NO’ to men who assume that they will win her affection by simply asking. She states multiple times that a woman’s power and authority lay in her modesty and does her best to at least appear to be modest to the men who desire her. She resists the men that court her and by so doing causes them to be desperate for her so that after each day, she is more valuable in their eyes. She knowingly and aggressively determines the person she will become. She is far from complacent toward the situations that she is in. She takes all that she can get from the men around her and admits, more than once, that she places a lot of value in herself. Given, she more than likely would have had a much different life had she been born into different circumstances-she was obviously defined somewhat by her kinship and social status-but she went to extreme measures to improve herself in the world she lived in. She was born into circumstances that she could not control, but from that starting point, she chose her own course. One example of that is she didn’t want to go to ‘service’, so she complained and was given permission to continue her duties in her home. For the most part, she got what she wanted to out of life.

Moll Flanders the Individual

Oh, I am so excited to begin this discussion!!

Terry Eagleton says the "novel is a sign of the modern human subject. It, too, is 'orginal,' in the sense that modern men and women are supposed to be the authors of their own existence. Who you are is no longer determined by kinship, tradition or social status; instead it is something you determine for yourself" (7). How does Moll Flanders (the character) fit this description of the modern woman? Does her character resist this definition or embrace it?

Those of you new to my discussions will find that I tend to ask a string of questions (this time is nothing) but they are all just different ways of asking the same thing.