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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the narrator insist that the characters must eventually become?

2. Why does the narrator say it is difficult to have a private biography taken seriously?

3. What does the narrator admit about the text?

4. Knowing she cannot be the gentleman's wife, what does Moll do?

5. Where does Moll go to dress in back as a widow and call herself Mrs. Flanders?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Moll become closely involved with a wealthy man in Bath?

2. What happens to Moll after her husband dies?

3. What does the editor claim about Moll's new life in the American colonies?

4. Why does Moll put off the younger brother's proposal of marriage?

5. What excuse does the older brother give for not marrying Moll right away?

6. What is the complication that arises in the new family where Moll lives?

7. How does Moll protest the older brother's suggestion?

8. As a child what does Moll want that amuses the Mayor's wife and her Nurse?

9. What solution do Moll and her husband-brother come up with to resolve the situation?

10. Listening to her mother-in-law, what does Moll suddenly realize?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay of at least two typewritten, double spaced pages on how the tastes of a majority of society at any given time affect the way writers tell their tales. Begin with the profuse apology of Defoe in the Preface that the story contains lewd behavior that has been edited and his insistence that the story is presented for its moral lesson. Give your opinion as to whether Defoe is writing tongue in cheek to satisfy the criticism he believes the novel will incur. Give examples as to how such circumspection has changed over the centuries.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay of at least two typewritten, double spaced pages on the subject of penitence. Point out what real penitence is. Discuss how Moll's penitence looks less like sorrow for her sins and more like sorrow that she was caught. Contrast her with the governess who seems to be genuinely sorry for her past life at the end of the novel.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay of at least two typewritten, double spaced pages on the value of goods that Moll stole as opposed to their value today. Many of Moll's thefts involved fabrics such as silk. Another thing was plate (items made of silver). Explain what that tells about the value of such items in the 18th century. Discuss how these are not the things usually taken in robberies today.

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