Fear and Poverty can make us do the unthinkable in order to survive. There is so much to say about this novel that I don’t know where to begin. Defoe speaks against the treatment of women and what they were forced to do in order to take care of themselves in a world where they were considered the possession of men.
Defoe’s Moll struggles to avoid the deadly poverty of 17/18th-century England. From a prison-birth to prosperity this is a saga of a notorious heroine. Her misdemeanors and delinquencies, her career as a prostitute, a charming and faithful wife, a thief, and a convict - till today is one of the most candid stories of a woman's progress ever told.
Moll's mother is a convict in Newgate Prison in London who is given a reprieve by "pleading her belly" (pregnant criminals were able to avoid execution). Her mother is eventually transported to America and Moll Flanders (not her real name) is raised by a good foster mother, then she becomes a household servant where she is loved by both sons. The elder son convinces her to "act like they were married" in bed, but is not willing to marry her but convinces Moll to marry the younger brother. She is widowed and remarries several times one of those marriages is accidentally to her brother. Yes this story covers all the bases.
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