The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders/Oliver Twist - Assignment Example

The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders/Oliver Twist What kinds of specificity do you find in Moll Flanders? What is the function of that specificity?  Moll Flanders aptly describes the society in terms of employment, love, and life she had to endure during the 17th century. It had historic, social and cultural specificity. It gave readers an insight to what was happening during this period. It referred not only to individuals but also the structures (and institutions) available at the time which supported or deterred a person from acting out.

It also referred to the culture of people during this time – something that is so different from the modern time.2.If Moll Flanders were updated to represent today’s issues, who would be its main character? What would its message be? Moll Flanders represent the 99% of the world’s population who are suffering from poverty. She is the child of a convicted felon who is ostracized on society for being born with “bad roots”. She is the orphan child forced to live in the harsh realities of an urbanized world.

She is the woman forced into a life of crime in order to fend for herself. Moll Flanders’ life questions the capability of man to uphold absolutist Christian values when their need for survival is much more pressing. It is a critic of the ethics governing the business world, where profit is the foremost goal (and could sometimes lead to the exploitation of poor citizens).3.Describe a memorable episode in Moll Flanders and interpret its political/social message. A memorable episode in Moll Flanders is that which was described in section 4 where she became a mistress to a gentleman.

Here, Moll experienced a bit of happiness because the gentleman was also her friend, and by this man, she had several children. However, he had to leave Moll and their children because of a religious experience in which he found himself “at the very brink of Eternity” (Defoe). This is an important section mainly because it starts a debate of morality: was it moral to leave your own children and cause them to live without a father? For me, this situation still happens at present times – men with mistresses still leave their “second families” because they feel that it is immoral.

But then again, I feel that when this happens, then it is the children which suffer. Relating it to the times, it seems that the absolutist Christianity espoused at the time had its own pitfalls. It can be regarded as unjust because it did not consider the wellbeing of those who are innocent.4.Who is Stephen Duck? Why was his poem so famous? Why is it important to the history of poverty? Stephen Duck is known for his rags-to-riches story, thanks to the favor he received from Queen Caroline (Goodridge 2006).

His poem, The Thresher’s Labour looks at the hardships of threshers and the working class in general. It talks about the cycle of plants and the kind of labor required for the particular seasons. It talks describes sweat and how it can be used as sign of authenticity of the experienced. It helped people understand that making food takes more than just cooking, but rather, there is manual labor involved. 5.Think about Dickens negative portrayal of the beadle in Oliver Twist. If this critique were made today, would it be a right wing or left wing critique?

 The negative portrayal of the beadle in Oliver Twist can be considered as a left-wing critique because it looks at inequalities as injustice. The beadle’s use of his power and status can be seen as discriminatory and must be abolished.6. The Poor Law of 1834 is an attempt to effect changes in the psychology of the poor by making it extremely uncomfortable to accept relief. While you may readily say that this is a manipulative and cruel approach, is there any value whatsoever in considering the psychology of the recipient of relief?

Should government policies be sensitive to such elusive things as personal motivation? I think that the government should be sensitive to personal motivation for accepting relief because it talks about the sustainability of a relief program. People accepting relief must have the motivation to improve the situation so that they can help other people later on. Without this motivation, relief programs will only be cyclical, where the beneficiaries start to leech of the government’s resources and other people who are also in need can no longer be served.

The government must realize that its role is help people get up from poverty so that they can do something for themselves, not to make them dependent on relief in order to live.7. Do you think that poetry of this sort is an appropriate way to learn history? Consider, for instance, its language, and its very tight focus on individuals and the specific activities of the laboring poor. I think that poetry is an appropriate way to appreciate history because it helps students realize the “gravity” of the situation of the laboring poor.

When they get an insight into the actual labor they have to do each day, then they begin to see that working manual labor is not easy as it seems. By using a descriptive method written in the laborer’s point of view then “labour” becomes real, it relates all emotions and thoughts associated with it.8. Do you find George Crabbe to be jaded? What do you learn from Crabbe that cannot be learned from Stephen Duck or Mary Collier?George Crabbe’s poetries are all about daily life in the villages – not all of it is about labor, but it presents a picture of the goings on in the small communities.

Through his poetry, he gives life to the 18th century, people have real emotions and even things have their own values. Crabbe’s work may be too simplistic (and idyllic) for some people, but its simplicity is amazing, considering the problems encountered by people at the time.Works CitedDefoe, Daniel. Moll Flanders. The Literature Network. http://www.online-literature.com/defoe/moll_flanders/.Goodridge, John. 2006. Stephen Duck, The Thresher’s Labour, and Mary Collier, The Womans Labour.

In A Companion to Eighteenth-Century Poetry. doi:10.1111.