On Jonny Wild

To pick up where class left off on how Fielding writes the tale of Jonathan Wild with a childlike imagination in the way he fabricates certain facts and circumstances. Of course the novel is a work of fiction, based on the life of a real man, but Fielding spins the exploits of Wild with the adeptness of a savvy journalist. While reading the novel I immediately thought of Moll Flanders. Though there are many similarities—they turn to a life of crime, they spend time in America, they spend time in Newgate, to name a few—there are two obvious and interesting differences. The first interesting difference that’s in Jonathan Wild is that the reader receives all of the information from a narrator, whereas in Moll Flanders the reader receives everything straight from the horse’s mouth. The difference in point-of-view and perspective changes many factors. The second interesting difference between both tales is that even though they are about two crooks that use other witless gentry to get what they want, each title character is a member of the opposite sex. I think this point is the most interesting of them all. As stated early in the tale of Jonny Wild, great events “should be managed by great and eminent Men.” And as the class suggested names of “great” men to put on the board, I noticed the obvious omission of the names of any great women. So I ask: why can’t women manage such things and why did Fielding only mention men? The class acknowledged the satire in the way Fielding employs the word great, the word’s meaning versus true goodness, and the interpretability of the word morality. For me, I think there’s a double standard. Where men are viewed as cool or are exalted for their shady dealings, women are viewed in more of a negative light for any questionable acts. In many ways I think Jonny Wild and Moll are seemingly in a constant Lockean state of war. Without trying to defend Moll in any way, I do think she bears more negativity per her deeds. To put it in a more contemporary context, it’s the question of why is a woman a floozy for having multiple sexual partners while a man is a player? Although I have been unable to tease out the answer to either question, I think there’s a relevance to them both in the way there’s relevance to asking why.