American literature

Herman Melville

Herman Melville (1819-1891)

American novelist, poet

Works Redburn 1849 Typee 1846 Omoo 1874 Moby Dick 1851 Mardi 1849 White Jacket 1850 Pierre 1852 Billy Budd (posthumously) The Confidence Man Battle Pieces 1866

Major ideas of New England Transcendentalism Placing emphasis on spirit or Over-soul, as the most

important thing in the universe.

--- a new way of looking at the world

Stressing the importance of individual (self-reliance)

--- a new way of looking at man

Offering a fresh perception of the nature as symbolic

of the Spirit or God.

(“The Universe is composed of Nature and the Soul.”

“Spirit is present everywhere.” The individual soul

communed with the Over-soul and was therefore divine.).

Moby Dick Major Characters

Ishmael  - The narrator, and a member of the crew of the Pequod, n

ot playing a major role in the events of the novel, but much of the nar

rative is taken up by his eloquent, verbose, and extravagant discours

e on whales and whaling. l

Ahab  - The egomaniacal captain of the Pequod. Ahab lost his leg to

Moby Dick. He is single-minded in his pursuit of the whale, using a

mixture of charisma and terror to persuade his crew to join him. As a

captain, he is dictatorial but not unfair. At moments he shows a com

passionate side, caring for the insane Pip and musing on his wife an

d child back in Nantucket.

Moby Dick  - The great white sperm whale. Moby Dick, also referred

to as the White Whale, is an infamous and dangerous threat to seam

en, considered by Ahab the incarnation of evil and a fated nemesis.

Evaluation

Moby Dick is, critics have agreed, one of the world’s greatest masterpieces. To get to know the 19th century American mind and America itself, one has to read this book.

It is an encyclopedia of everything, history, philosophy, religion, etc. in addition to a detailed account of the operations of the whaling industry.

“To scale great heights, we must come out of the lowest depths. The way to heaven is through hell. We need fiery baptism in the fierce flames of our bosoms.” 欲攀登高峰，必先脱离深渊；欲登天堂，必先途经地狱。我们需要经受发生在内心的熊熊烈火的洗礼。

Symbols in Moby Dick

Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.

The Pequod: a symbol of doom. It is painted a gloomy black and covered in whale teeth and bones, literally bristling with the mementos of violent death. It is, in fact, marked for death.

Symbol of Moby Dick It has various symbolic meanings for various individuals. To the Pequod’s crew, it is a concept onto which they can displac

e their anxieties about their dangerous and often very frightening jobs.

Ahab, on the other hand, believes that Moby Dick is a manifestation of all that is wrong with the world, and he feels that it is his destiny to eradicate this symbolic evil.

In its inscrutable silence and mysterious habits, for example, the White Whale can be read as an allegorical representation of an unknowable God.

As a profitable commodity, it fits into the scheme of white economic expansion and exploitation in the nineteenth century.

As a part of the natural world, it represents the destruction of the environment by such hubristic expansion.

Queequeg’s Coffin

Queequeg’s coffin alternately symbolizes life and death.

Queequeg has it built when he is seriously ill, but when

he recovers, it becomes a chest to hold his belongings a

nd an emblem of his will to live.

The coffin further comes to symbolize life, in a morbid w

ay, when it replaces the Pequod’s life buoy.

When the Pequod sinks, the coffin becomes Ishmael’s b

uoy, saving not only his life but the life of the narrative th

at he will pass on.