37th Annual Student Research Conference
A Comparative Study of Feminist Consciousness in Daniel Defoe’s Moll Flanders and Stephen Crane’s Maggie: A Girl of the Streets
Frances A. Miklovic
Dr. Hena Ahmad, Faculty Mentor
This paper will examine how Daniel Defoe’s Moll Flanders and Stephen Crane’s Maggie: A Girl of the Streets portray the survival of women beset by poverty who attempt to enhance their social and economic status. Though their stories are set over 170 years apart, these two female characters confront similar challenges such as their lack of familial support. However, these women have very different outcomes. On the one hand, Moll uses her cleverness and strong will to profitably navigate her way through London society. After being deceived by her first lover, she uses her marriage for economic stability while also relying heavily on her skills as a criminal to support herself. On the other hand, Maggie is more fragile and fatally succumbs to her naivety. After being deceived by a lover who promises lavishness, she must turn to prostitution to survive which ultimately cannot sustain her life for long. I will explore the ways in which the novels show how and why Moll prospers while Maggie fails to survive.
Keywords: Defoe, Crane, Moll Flanders, Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, Feminist Consciousness, Social Oppression, Economic Oppression
Topic(s):English
Presentation Type: Oral Presentation
Session: 105-2
Location: SUB 3202
Time: 9:30