Amicalola Falls Trail: Hiking Georgia's Tallest Waterfall

Amicalola Falls Trail: Hiking Georgia's Tallest Waterfall

Lunch for the final

Hi friends!
I just want to remind everybody that there will be lunch provided during the final tomorrow.
We are doing sandwiches from Subway with chips and drinks, and of course snacks!
Please arrive hungry because we always have plenty to eat.

=)

I found this cool article about Moll and I thought it made some good points in favor of Moll. I really liked it because I felt it was very easy to criticize Moll in almost every stage of this novel.

"George Eliot wrote, "It is never too late to be who you might have been." As I read those words, I was hard pressed to find another who fit them as well as Moll Flanders. Despite circumstance and luck and odds set against her at every turn, this woman refused to bow to the conventional wisdom that normally rules the downtrodden and the dispossessed. And it is in that tenacity of spirit I find Eliot's words ringing true. Moll Flanders born into a world of pad-locked doors and dark menacing corners was destined for greatness simply because she lived it.
The story begins as a tale told to an orphan recovered and claimed by Hibble, a man of mystery, dark and wise. The orphan, Flora, has been retrieved by Hibble and is on a journey to America to meet a fate she does not understand. Along the way, Hibble has been instructed to read to her the diary of her mother, Moll Flanders. It is an introduction to a woman who’s soul does not come across well on the written page, but Hibble struggles along, trying to entice the young girl with the memory of an extraordinary friend and confidante. Threats and lectures begin a journey that soon intrigues the young woman on its own merit. Her mother, it would seem, was more than she ever dreamed.
And it is in those pages that we find a hero of our own. Moll Flanders, born to a convicted thief, was orphaned the day she was born as the state carried out the sentence of death put upon her mother. Moll landed at the foot of the Church, learning how to read, to pray and to fend off hypocrisy and the groping hand of the priest in the bargain. Leaving the Church in an unorthodox manner, Moll bounced from home to home, finding herself too much for some and too little to ward off others. Along the way, she learned to laugh and to limp because of the kindness and cruelty that abound in our worlds. It was in the kindness that Moll found herself bound in love to an unlikely artist and it was in that union Flora was conceived.
The tale of Flora's lost mother and the reclaimed image of her mother are both engrossing and tragic, light-hearted and frustrating to watch. People of that era (and of our own) are limited only by an imagination in their ability to be cruel and generous, torturous or kind. Moll seemed to experience them all. This is one of those stories that found you angry and hopeful in the same breath as you watched Moll bounce and land time and again with and without her footing beneath her."

What Official time is our final?

Hey Everyone,

I keep hearing conflicting times for when we are to meet in the library for the final on tuesday. Does anyone know what time?

Thanks,

Julia

We do what we have to, to protect ourselves

Ok so I know we already discussed the end of Moll Flanders and discussed this topic very thoroughly. However I just wanted to say that I was thinking about Moll Flanders last night and thinking about the situations in which we are willing to excuse things we would normally find wrong. So of course I came up with a connection with another book. I realize I do this like everyday but i enjoy it when books make me think of others. So in this case I though of The Road by Cormac McCarthy. The man is willing to murder, to kill without hesitation in order to protect his little boy. We do not question that. Of course protecting his son takes priority, but do we give Moll the same lenience? Now Moll isnt the type to be bullied but the way her society is set up, where a woman is only worth something if she gets married, what else is she supposed to do? I have no doubt that her decision to prostitute herself, then turn to stealing, is completely hers. She is the boss of her own story. However with the circumstances around her she does what she has to do to protect herself. Do we not all do that to a certain extent? I have made many decisions in my life that have been for me, in order to protect myself, and others can do not matter. Now Moll might take this to an extreme but I see her point.

Moll the "pick-pocketer"

In comparison with the original Moll Flanders, the Moll that was lady-like and proper, always keeping with the customs and norms of what the times permitted, and the Moll that fell into sin, stealing anything that is not bolted down, I would say the latter is much more interesting, colorful, and enjoyable to follow. Keep in mind, I do not condone Moll's deeds, but I feel like she, toward the end, found herself. Enjoyed herself. She was no longer just manipulating men and women to gain favor or more wealth, but she was hard at a craft, a skill.

I was enthralled with her new character, or birth of a new person, because there was something to her drive to gain more possessions, and not money; yes, she did have a lot of money, but she ceased to list the total amount of her worth every few pages; instead, she went from one steal to another, and I could feel her satisfaction (Defoe's) in her tasks. She may have become a thief, but at least she was a talented one--a capable one.

her only grown son

I think that Moll reacted differently to her son in Virginia because technically he is her only son that she has seen grown (as a man). And like we talked in class there is more of an attachment to children that grow out of the infant stage as they are likely to survive after their young age. Also I think he represents a living walking part of Moll's wicked past. But that was not so bad (since she didn't know the dad was her brother) and that she isn't so sad about having a remembrance of the past like him. So since she knows of no other descendant of hers, her son is the only living one she knows for sure made it to adult hood so I believe she is extremely happy to have him in her life. That's the main difference I saw between all her other children and this one that she knew for sure made it to adult hood. Which I thought was quite beautiful for a nice ending for the book.

-Nessa