MOLL FLANDERS - Page 3 of 5 - book summaries and study materials

Summary and Analysis Chapter 27 – Another Problem

Summary The new problem had to do with the fact that Moll was reluctant to leave Virginia without making some claim to her inheritance. Nor could she bear the thought of leaving without making herself known to her brother or to her son. However, she didn’t want Jemmy to know […]

Summary and Analysis Chapter 26 – A New Lie

Daniel Defoe

Summary The story Moll told Jemmy varied somewhat from the truth. She told him they would have to move since she had discovered that, although her mother was dead, some of her relatives lived quite close to them and Moll did not feel it would be proper for these relatives […]

Summary and Analysis Chapter 25 – A New Life

Daniel Defoe

Summary Moll and Jemmy had their goods placed in a warehouse. Then Moll inquired after her mother and her brother, who was once her husband. She discovered that her mother had died, but that her brother was still alive, information which brought her no pleasure. Worse still, Moll learned that […]

Summary and Analysis Chapter 24 – The Trip to Virginia

Daniel Defoe

Summary The first thing Moll and Jemmy did was to take account of their belongings. Jemmy said that he had only ?108 left. The rest of his stock had been used so he could live like a gentleman while in prison, solicit his case, and make friends. Moll’s stock came […]

Summary and Analysis Chapter 23 – Reunion

Daniel Defoe

Summary Fifteen weeks later Moll was put on board a ship in the Thames with a group of thirteen hardened criminals. Between the time that the order for transportation was given and the time that Moll was put on board the ship, she learned that Jemmy, her Lancashire husband, and […]

Summary and Analysis Chapter 22 – Newgate Prison

Daniel Defoe

Summary The very name of Newgate sent chills through Moll’s body. This was the place where so many of her accomplices and comrades had been sent, from where many were hanged; this was the place where her mother had been housed, and where she herself had been born and where […]

Summary and Analysis Chapter 21 – Capture

Daniel Defoe

Summary It was now a time of year when the gentlemen usually left town, leaving few occasions for Moll’s type of adventures. She joined a gang and went to Stourbridge Fair and Bury Fair in Suffolk. Since there were slim pickings there, she soon tired of the whole business and […]

Summary and Analysis Chapter 20 – A New Disguise

Daniel Defoe

Summary Because of her most recent activities, Moll now had ?700 in money besides clothes, rings, some plate, and two gold watches. There was no need for her to continue her evil ways, but greed forced her on. Since her near-capture in widow’s clothes, Moll decided to change her disguise […]

Summary and Analysis Chapter 19 – A Return to Crime

Daniel Defoe

Summary A few months after the relationship terminated, Moll returned to her old trade. Disguised as an ordinary working woman, she waited outside an inn which was used as a stopping place for several stage-coaches. Servants would come to the inn and give various parcels and bundles to the coachmen […]

Summary and Analysis Chapter 18 – Moll Finds a Suitor

Daniel Defoe

Summary After Moll’s return to London, her governess said that she would never again recommend a partner to Moll, for she found Moll had better luck when she worked alone. Moll also felt she was safer relying on her own good sense rather than on others, who were often dull, […]