Herman Melville

1
Herman Melville
2
Melville as a Sailor(not so accustomed to the
brutal life)

• Merchant vessel to England
• Whaler Acushnut bound for Pacific (deserted ship
  at Nuku Hiva)
• Nuku Hiva---guest and captive of cannibals
  (Typee)
• Escaped on another ship to Tahiti
• Enlisted at Honolulu for service aboard US naval
  vessel
• Total Years at Sea 4

3
Dollars damn me.

• Became friends with Hawthorne and often was
  irritated that his success didnt last
• Novels became less about physical adventure
  (which Americans liked) and more mental
  adventures (which bored Americans)
• Self-examination and mental examination
  (transcendental) didnt pay the bills

4
Like Transcendentalists

• Melville sought evidence of human spirit in
  nature
• Found division and disunity--- however beautiful
  the sunlit surface of the ocean, sharks and other
  terrors still swim in the dark depths.
• Ineradicable evil in all existence haunted
  Melvilles imagination

5
Typee

• Fictionalized account of his life at Nuku Hiva
  (Tahiti)
• 1st modern novel of South Sea adventure
• Well-received by Americans success
• New perspective on changing culture in America

6
(No Transcript)
7
Typee

• Miseries of civilized life
• Advantages in society hundred evils in reserve
• Pg. 274 (2nd column)
• How he really feels about civilized society

• Happiness of Typee tribe
• No Western consciousness of time
• No value of memory
• No anticipation of future
• Joys of life spread around all (constant variety
  of enjoyment)
• Dignified
• No sickness

VS.
8
Who are the savages of the world?

• Cannibals

• Western Society

9
Moby Dick

• About his experiences on a whaling ship
• Adventure story became deep-diving exploration of
  the mysteries of human nature and tragedies of
  human thought.
• NOT A SUCCESS

10

• Overall, Melville was not seen as an influential
  American writer until the 1920s when scholars
  revisited his works

11
Questions to Consider from Moby Dick

1. How is Ahab characterized physically and
   mentally? Consider various perspectivesIshmael,
   Starbuck, Queequeg, Stubb, Ahab himself through
   thoughts and actions.
2. How does Ahab view various elements of nature
   (ambivalent, indifferent, etc.)? How are his
   views contradictory with regards to these
   elements?

12
Self-Reliance Gone Mad

• Pg. 277---physical descrip.
• Pg. 278--- inner conflict
• Pg. 280---mental descrip. Pg. 281--- Whos over
  me? Truth has no confines.
• Pg. 283---forehead to forehead
• Pg. 284---Against the wind I misdoubt me
• Pg. 287---gloats

13

• Ahab sees nature as a symbol of some spiritual
  truth, though for him, this truth is unknowable.
  Can man really ever truly understand the
  complexities of the mysterious universe?
• Suffers deep inner conflict and aloneness
• Struggling to recognize the truth within
• Destructively feeding on himself to perpetuate
  himself
• Battling reason and intuition

14
God-complex?

• Ahab acknowledges god and the god within himself
  uses this to rationalize his madness
• Only one god in the sky and only one captain of
  this ship.
• Sees himself as the messiah (messenger of god
  savior who is on a crusade)
• Plans to purge the world (seas) from evil/sins

15
Nature

• Pg 281---Starbucks view of nature (foreshadowing)
• Pg. 283---Ahabs view of nature (ambiguous)
• Pg. 287---whales actions Moby Dick seeks thee
  not or does he?

16

• In The Chase---Third Day, Melville lets the
  reader see the chase of Moby Dick through the
  eyes of Ahab, Starbuck, Stubb, and the whale.
  This reinforces idea of relativism
• Perspective makes ambiguous the question as to
  whether the forces of nature are good or evil

17
Perspectives on Truth

• Ahab---Truth has no confines,but perhaps it
  does. By what might his truth be confined?
• Ishmael---Truth is living within the limitations
  of our human understandings coming to terms
  with our own mortality

18

• Melville---deep dangers in trying to establish
  meanings for God, humanity, and nature
• Seekers of absolutes deceive themselves. We live
  in a neutral universe that has meaning only in
  our human perceptions, and historical actualities
  are our only guides to truth
• Truth is relative to its pursuer