An Excerpt Of Moll Flanders, As Written By A Woman

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An Excerpt of Moll Flanders, As Written by a Woman In response to a comment made in class one day last week, I have taken it upon myself to rewrite a passage of Moll Flanders in the only way a woman can write. I have hereby turned a certain portion of the novel into an excerpt of a mushy love story, because I am a woman and it has been stated that I am only capable of writing in this form.

When my lover, the one and only light of my life, had come to visit me, he could tell that there was something wrong with me. I was not acting toward him as I had before, so vibrant and full of love for him. He also noticed that I had been crying, because every little thing made me cry, as is the truth with all women.

"Why, what is the matter, my dearest one?" he asked me.

"Is something troubling you?" I did not want to tell him, lest he leave me, but I could not mask my agony. However, since I so desperately wanted to conceal my quandary from him, I made him drag it out of me.

"Oh, my love, something does trouble me," I wailed. "I cannot hide it from you any longer, yet I know not how to confess to you this thing that troubles me so!" I began to sob, so great was the tension brought upon me by my dilemma. "I do not know what to do! I am at the mercy of your direction!" "Sweetheart, whatever it is that upsets you so greatly, let it be, for I will protect you from anything and everything in this world," my lover declared.

I felt so overcome with love for him at that moment I almost swooned. There is nothing like a man vowing his protection to a woman, for as the Lord knows she will not get anywhere in life without it.

"In all honesty, my darling, I believe the women of your household have discovered our secret love affair," I began tremulously. "They have started acting very strangely toward me, finding fault with my work and making me go to bed alone or with one of the maids. I have also heard them speaking severely of me, and one of the other maids has informed me that I am to be sent from this house because my presence is not desired any longer. Oh, my love, what shall I do if I am not here with you?" I began to sob even more heartily, for the idea of being separated from my lover was more than I could bear. How could I go on alone? My lover only smiled at my confession.

"How can you be so casual?" I demanded of him. "Our love is in danger, and if they really do discover our secret affair, I will be sent away from you! Can you live without me? I know that I cannot live without you! Oh, you are just like a man, you lead a woman on until she is hopelessly in love as I am with you, and then you toss her aside as if she is a trinket and you give no thought to her ruin!" "Oh, love, I am sorry," he said. "I have never thought in that way about you. I have always had your best interest and reputation at heart. I simply do not believe that any member of my family has any suspicion of our secret love affair. I merely smiled because I love you so much, and if you would realize that, you would be smiling in your joy as well." "But if our affair has not been discovered, I do not know why I am to be sent away, or why the disposition of the members of this family has changed so drastically toward me." "They suspect that my younger brother Robin is in love with you, as he has told them he is. I am glad for this, because it takes the suspicion from me, and we can proceed in our love affair without any kind of interruption." His reasoning was logical, and I felt even more madly in love with him as he spoke. I knew we were meant to be together, and I could not live without him.

So had a woman instead of a man written Moll Flanders, it almost certainly would have sounded like this instead of the way it does presently. However, I speak with utmost sarcasm. Not all women writers are Danielle Steeles or Jackie Collinses. One of us could be a Joyce Carol Oates, or even a Mary Higgins Clark. It is demeaning and advocates a negative stereotype to even hold the opinion that women are only efficient as writers when it comes to the so-called "mushy love story".