Preview

Family as a theme in Falkner's "Moonfleet", Author: J. Meade Falkner

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1817 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Family as a theme in Falkner's "Moonfleet", Author: J. Meade Falkner
Moonfleet by J. Meade Falkner is a tale of a search for a mythical pirates treasure and of a boys growth from a child to a man. Materialism and greed are prominent themes throughout this novel, Falkner portrays John as a very materialistic child who vies for wealth and riches. The curse of Blackbeards diamond and the lure of wealth and great fortune lead to grave consequences for young John Trenchard. Throughout the story John and Elzevir grow with one another and through their experiences gain a need for one another as they learn from one another. After his aunt parted from him, John sought out Elzevir, who recently experienced the loss of his only son, who took John into his home and gave him a place to sleep and food. Throughout their journey together the main character, along with his companion, progress with one another and undergo gain and loss, they both learn the true value of family, and they realize that wealth isnt everything in life.

Materialism and greed only lead to destruction and evil, Elzevir and John discover this on their quest for wealth and fortune. John Trenchard is a young boy from the village of Moonfleet in Dorset. Dorset was named moonfleet short for "Mohune-fleet." The Mohune family which the town was named after were a great family who were once lords of all these parts. The most famous of the family was the notorious Blackbeard. Blackbeard was said to haunt the town cemetery and this provided the perfect cover for a group of local smugglers who smuggled contraband liquor and hid it in the underground Mohune family vault. John is captivated by the myth of a pirates treasure and he does everything possible to discover more of the secrets in hope of becoming wealthy. This vie for wealth leads John to an old secret cave where he discovers bible passages that relate to the diamond, when smugglers come into the cave, Johns attempt to hide leads to his broken ankle. When the smugglers find him, they offer him a home because Johns aunt



Cited: oonfleet 1898, J. Meade Falkner, Published by Edward Arnold

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In Walk Two Moons, by Sharon Creech, Sal visits Phoebe’s house and eats blackberry pie in chapter six “Blackberries”. When Sal arrives home, a memory popped up about her mother picking up blackberries on their farms in Bybanks. It remains Sal’s about how her mom loves nature and all living creatures. They pick the blackberries at the people-height, because the top and bottom are for animals. At a time in the morning, when her mother was pregnant, they were looking for breakfast in the kitchen. They did find that Sal dad also had left a flower for each two juice glasses. Sal mom was so pleased and so did Sal, and they decided to go after Sal father to the farm. The moment when they sneaked up, her father knew and turned to them. However, her…

    • 198 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    John and Elzevir went on a great, long heroic journey in order to find Blackbeard’s treasure. They went from being wanted of false murder, to being rich with Blackbeard’s, said to be “cursed”, diamond, then to being wanted again and sentenced to life.…

    • 291 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Katharine H.S Moon, the author of “Sex among Allies: Military Prostitution in U.S.-Korea Relations”, wrote “where there are soldiers, there are women who exist for them.” The misconceptions of Asian women as prostitutes for the United States Military men have linger through present day America. This portion of the essay will examine the particular measures in how and why the early movement of Asians migration greatly inclined today’s stereotype of Asian women. The entire antiquity of the labels dates back to the 1900’s, where the Asian settlers initially reached the United States. These settlers, mainly their women, stumbled upon racial discrimination and hostility. The cultural distinction amongst Asians and Americans were exploited by the…

    • 238 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dave Pelzer Thesis

    • 271 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In this book, a struggling teenage boy named Dave Pelzer that in his childhood years, got abused by his alcoholic mother and sent to foster care, was trying to put his life together before he turns 18 and gets sent out to the world alone without any support or money. Dave soon drops out of highschool wanting to join the Air Force, so he applies to become a fireman like his father once was. Unfortunately, Dave suffers from setbacks in the Air Force and eventually gets transferred to California where he met his gold digging girlfriend Pasty. He realizes her crazy money spending problems the fact that she was just using him so her family could have a place to live and tries to dump her, until she announced that she was pregnant with his son…

    • 271 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Last of the Mohicans is set in the wild woodland frontier of western New York in the late 1750s, during the French and Indian War. Cooper uses the setting to display a number of different family dynamics, all of which are representative of normal family life during the colonization of America. For my essay, I will point out several of these dynamics and compare them with examples from our textbook and other accurate sources.…

    • 1079 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    A boy is trying to find himself and embrace his differences in Ransom Riggs’ action-packed first book. Jacob’s grandfather’s strange death leaves Jacob with questions. Many doctors say that Jacob is insane and he knows it's something else and he needs to find out what it is. Jacob Portman goes on a search for clues that will unlock his grandfather’s mysterious past. Jacob travels to a strange island full of strange people. He discovers other people who are different like him. They all have strange and unique abilities that unite them against common enemies. In the battle between good and evil, Jacob and his new friends form bonds and grow stronger together. But through the happiness, pain and suffering makes a way, as he and his only friends…

    • 197 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Deciding the path on which you wish to tread for the rest of your life is a difficult one and often complications arise. In this short story, the son is unsure of whether his chosen role is the one he truly wants. However, because of the decisions he has made, there is no way to go back across the already charred and blackened bridges of his past. The author develops the idea that when roles are pressed upon individuals, the result may be decisions that are not necessarily desirable to them. In Alistair MacLeod 's "The Boat," the father sacrifices himself in order to give his son the opportunity to choose…

    • 1622 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    No one cherishes his or her family constantly. That is only an unavoidable truth. In spite of this, A Thousand Splendid Suns proposes that there's nobody more critical than your family. The novel likewise proposes that the idea of "family" stretches out past blood relatives. Consider how Mariam and Laila build up a mother-daughter relationship, or consider the bond amongst Tariq and Zalmai that starts to develop towards the ending of the novel. Now and then family is your blood, and every now and then it isn't—yet your family, however you define it, is always at the center of your life.…

    • 101 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Chesnutt, Charles W. “The Wife of His Youth.” Call and Response: The Riverside Anthology of the African American Literary Tradition. Gen. ed. Patricia Liggins Hill. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1998. 594-600. Print.…

    • 867 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    My book is about this 16 year old boy’s life. His name is Jacob Feilding. He goes to Holy Cross High School. He was adopted around his 14th birthday by Mr. Feilding. One day while he and his adopted dad are driving to the coast they have a wreck. Jacob survives without a scratch on him while Mr. Feilding died.…

    • 555 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    In today’s society, divorce has become more common and occurs almost every ten to thirteen seconds. Anywhere from 40% to 50% of the United States population is divorced. A large majority of these divorces involve young children. These children often do not understand what is going on or how to deal with this type of situation. Young girls and young boys of divorce are impacted severely, yet they deal with this happening rather differently. It is often assumed that boys should be strong or boys are not supposed to show emotion; likewise it is also presumed that girls are the emotional ones, however these are stereotypes that don’t show true in this circumstance.…

    • 1083 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Set in the days of sails and ships, buried treasure and pirates, Treasure Island is an epic tale of a young boy by the name of Hawkins, and his search for the buried treasure of the notorious Captain Flint. Treasure Island is written by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 94), his other texts include The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Kidnapped. I choose to read and review this book because I was familiar with some of Stevenson's other work and I had also watched and enjoyed the children's version of Treasure Island. As a reader, I like reading books in which I have an idea of the plot, as it heightens my enjoyment of the reading experience.…

    • 1165 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    What is family? The word family can be described in many ways. A group of people who share the same DNA. A group of people you love. There are many ways to describe family. The short stories “Two Kinds”, “Chee’s Daughter”, “Catch the Moon”, and “Everyday Use”, all have one thing in common and that is family. They all show he differen family connections. Family connections are how families keep connected with their differences.…

    • 590 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    If you could change anything about the last four years of your life, what would it be and why?…

    • 385 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Family Theory Paper

    • 1487 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Attempting to understand family life can be done through many different perspectives. The most central theory in the study of family sciences is the Family Systems Theory. The perspective of Family Systems Theory can be summarized through the phrase “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”. Family Systems Theory attempts to understand the series of connections between the individual parts of a family and how these interactions and connections affect the family as a whole. A family system is made up of the connections between individuals in a family. Family systems interactions with outside systems determine the openness and permeability of the boundaries surrounding a family system. The goals of a family system affect the behaviors and patterns that become the family structure. Subsystems within the family interact with each other and affect the relationships between individuals. Of course family units are not static and therefore the rules, traditions, and day-to-day behavior of a family system must constantly be changing in order to keep the course of reaching their goals in equilibrium. Family systems are united in their desire to achieve goals formed from a [unified] family paradigm or ideal. In this paper I will use family systems theory to interpret how my own family goals motivate the structures and processes that make up our family system. Family Systems Theory allows me to understand my family’s processes as working towards the family goals to have fun, create togetherness, work together towards accomplishment, and be spiritually strong.…

    • 1487 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics