Author Archive
GRE vocabulary building audiobook
Improve your vocabulary for the GRE or SAT verbal section! This free podcast episode contains moderate to difficult vocabulary words from the Barrons GRE word list. If you consider yourself an auditory learner, or just want to study on the go, this podcast is perfect for you. I’ll be releasing additional tracks in the next few days, so stay tuned. I’m also working on a podcast to mirror the Mnemosyne Project’s list of 700 Difficult GRE English Words. If you haven’t checked this out already, do it. It’s amazing.
Vocabulary Podcast for the GRE
Coming soon…
I’m putting together a vocabulary audio podcast for the GRE general. Stay tuned for updates!
Moll Flanders
The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders (commonly known as simply “Moll Flanders”) by Daniel Defoe details the life and adventures of a woman of unknown parentage who seeks her fortune through marriage. The book has been called picaresque and a morality tale, and has elements of both.
Moll Flanders is raised until adolescence by a good foster mother, and then gets attached to a household as a servant where she is loved by both sons. The elder son convinces her to sleep with him, but eventually unwilling to marry her he convinces Moll to marry the younger brother. She then is widowed, leaves her children to the care of in-laws, and begins trying to pass herself off as a rich widow to attract a man who will marry her and provide her with security. After a series of marriages, mishaps and plot twists, she eventually ends up in Newgate Prison where she repents and finds love.
Moll Flanders Flash Card
Author: Daniel Defoe, 1722
Narration: 1st person
Form: Novel
Style: picaresque, morality tale, lighthearted, humorous
Character List
The Elder Brother – One of the two brothers in the family with which Moll spends her teenage years, he falls in love with her and she becomes his mistress, thinking that he intends to marry her when he comes into his inheritance.
Robert – The younger of the two brothers who fall in love with Moll. He eventually marries her, in spite of his family’s disapproval, but dies after five years.
The Draper – Moll’s second husband, whose financial mistakes sink them into poverty. He eventually escapes to France as a fugitive from the law.
The Plantation Owner – A man who marries Moll thinking she has a great fortune. Together they move to Virginia, where he has his plantations. There, Moll learns that he is actually her half-brother and leaves him to return to England.
The Gentleman – A well-to-do man who befriends Moll and eventually makes her his mistress. His wife is mad, but he keeps Moll for six years before an illness and religious experience prompt him to break off the affair.
The Banker – A prosperous man whom Moll agrees to marry if he will divorce his unfaithful wife. They live happily for several years, but he then dies.
Jemy - Also called James and “my Lancashire husband,” he is the only man that Moll has any real affection for. They marry under a mutual deception and then part ways. Eventually they are reunited in prison and begin a new life together in America.
“My Governess” - Moll’s landlady and midwife, later her friend and confederate in crime. She helps Moll manage an inconvenient pregnancy and initiates her into the criminal underworld.
Humphrey – Moll’s son by the husband who was also her brother. She meets him with an overwhelming affection on her return to America, and he very generously helps her get established there.
Read the full text of Moll Flanders at Project Gutenberg.
Listen to the Moll Flanders audio book below.
Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe (c. 1659-1661 — 24 April 1731), was an English writer, journalist, and pamphleteer who became famous for his novels Robinson Crusoe(1719) and Moll Flanders (1722). Defoe is notable for being one of the earliest practitioners of the novel, as he helped to popularize the form in Britain, and is even referred to by some as one of the founders of the English novel.
See the following post for Robinson Crusoe and Moll Flanders GRE flashcards and audio.
Tom Jones audio book – book 2 ch. 1-3
Scroll down to see the see the GRE flash card for Tom Jones.
Note: this audio recording jumps ahead to book 2, chapters 1-3. To hear more visit Librivox.org.
To read Tom Jones online, visit the Project Gutenberg e-text.
Tom Jones – audio book – ch. 4-6
Scroll down to see the see the GRE flash card for Tom Jones.
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, known simply as Tom Jones, is a comic novel by the English playwright and novelist Henry Fielding. It is ranked number 25 on the GRE reading list.
Synopsis
Tom Jones is a foundling discovered on the property of Squire Allworthy, a kind wealthy landowner, who decides to raise the boy himself. Tom grows into an attractive, lusty youth. He is often in trouble and generally somewhat selfish and impulsive, but is nevertheless honest and kind at heart. He falls in love with his neighbor’s daughter, Sophia Western, but his status as a bastard causes Sophia’s father and Allworthy to oppose their love.
Note: I’d advise you not to try to read this book. It is extremely long, and unless you plan to study for three years prior to the test it will take up way too much of your time. Study the synopsis below, learn the characters, and listen to the audio book of Tom Jones in this and the following posts.
Tom Jones: GRE Flash Card
-First published on 28 February 1749
-Tom Jones is among the earliest English prose works describable as a novel.
-Main Characters:
- Tom Jones (a bastard and ward of Squire Allworthy)
- Squire Allworthy (a wealthy squire with an estate in Somersetshire)
- Mrs. Bridget Allworthy-Blifil (Squire Allworthy’s sister)
- Captain Blifil (Captain and Mrs. Blifil’s husband)
- Master Blifil (ill-natured son of Captain Blifil and Bridget)
- Black George Seagrim (a gamekeeper)
- Molly Seagrim (Black George’s second daughter)
- Squire Western (a hunting man)
- Sophia Western (the Squire’s only daughter)
- Honour (Sophia’s maid)
- listen to the audio file of Tom Jones.