Hello and Welcome to the Discourse. So we have covered the Early American literature and we have also seen the works of abolitionist authors. Now we will move towards American Romanticism.
The very first American Romantic author that we will discuss is Herman Melville. He was a dark romanticist.
Dark Romanticism is a sub-genre of Romanticism. Generally, it is associated with Satan, devils, ghosts, ghouls, vampires, and werewolves, that is, with the supernatural powers of evil.
Romanticism is the celebration of human virtues, strength, courage, and success. On the other hand, Dark Romanticism suggests that no matter how strong, virtuous, hard-working, determined, and brave a human hero is, he is not infallible, He may commit mistakes and that will result in his failure.
Dark Romantic authors create such characters who are strong, virtuous, determined, and impressive and they struggle to make their life better. But eventually, situations prompt them to commit mistakes and they self-destruct themselves under the supernatural powers of evil.
In American literature, the three major and popularly known authors who created such Dark Romantic characters & literature are Edgar Allen Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Herman Melville.
Herman Melville (1819-1891)
Melville was born in New York City in the year 1819. His father was a successful rich merchant. However, his father died in 1832 under huge debts and the family suffered an extreme financial crisis. He left his studies and turned to work to earn his living and for his family.
In 1839, he joined a merchant ship as a common sailor. But at heart, he was an adventurist. As he got some financial security, he turned to join a whaler ship named Acushnet.
A whaler is a huge strong-built ship that is used to catch and hunt whales. On the sea, he left the ship in the Marquesas Islands where he came in contact with the native people of the Islands who were uncivilized and cannibalistic.
Herman Melville wrote several essays, books, novels, novellas, and he wrote some poetry too. We will discuss all his major works in brief and we will expand our discussion on Moby Dick, which is not only his best and most successful book but is also known as one of the Greatest Novels of American Literature.
1) Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life (1846)
This book is considered a classic in travel and adventure literature. In this book, Melville partly depicted his own experiences on the Island Nuku Hiva in the South Pacific Marquesas Islands group where he visited in 1842.
This book was the most successful book of Melville during his lifetime and it gave him the title of “the man who lived among the cannibals.”
The story of Typee tells about how the narrator loses his ship and reaches Nuku Hiva Island. Here, he meets a voluptuously beautiful young native girl named Fayaway and falls in love with that girl.
The book in fact expresses strong support and sympathy towards the native tribes and it criticizes the missionaries attempting to civilize them. The theme is pretty similar to the current situations of tribes in the Andaman and Nicobar islands where missionaries try to infiltrate and convert native tribesmen to Christianity.
2) Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Pacific Sea. (1847)
This work is a sequel to Typee and it is also based on the real-life experiences of Melville. It was published in the year 1847. The hero of Typee leaves Nuku Hiva island on a whaling ship that moves towards Tahiti. A mutiny occurs on the ship, some people are murdered and a third of the crew members are imprisoned on Tahiti.
This story was the source of the American exploitation movie Omoo Omoo subtitled The Shark God.
3) Moby Dick: The White Whale (1851)
This third and most successful work of Herman Melville was published in the year 1851. It is also known as The White Whale. A sailor named Ishmael narrates his experiences on a whaling expedition with his captain Ahab.
During his lifetime of Melville, Moby Dick was an unsuccessful, failure, out-of-print novel. However, it gained prominence and became one of the most successful novels of America after his death. Nobel Laureate author William Faulkner praised the novel and said he wished he had written the book himself. D. H. Lawrence, another successful author called Moby Dick “One of the strangest and most wonderful books in the world.”
Summary of Moby Dick
The novel begins with the line “Call me Ishmael.” It is one of the most famous openings of a book.
The novel tells the story of a sailor captain Ahab, his crew member Ishmael, and a white whale named Moby-Dick. The title of the whale Moby Dick is based on the real albino male whale named Mocha Dick who was notorious for its attacks on sailor ships and was very difficult to catch.
Also, the end of the novel is inspired by the sinking of the whaler ship Essex that drowned in the sea in 1820.
Moby Dick is the epitome of Dark Romance and Melville was inspired by Shakespeare, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and the Bible to write this classic.
The narrator is Ishmael who travels from Manhattan Island to New Bedford, Massachusetts to find a job at some whaling expedition. He meets a Polynesian named Queequeg who is very strong built and frightening, but later on, it is revealed that he is a very kind-hearted and good person. Both of them join the whaler ship Pequod, owned by Bildad and Peleg. They introduce them to the Captain of the ship, Ahab.
A man named Elizah stops them and warns that if Ishmael and Queequeg both board the ship, the whaler will suffer dire consequences. Anyways, the ship leaves the harbor.
Captain Ahab is a proud, experienced sailor who is determined to take revenge against a white albino whale known as Moby Dick who bit off his leg at the knee on his previous voyage. He is obsessed with his desire to take revenge. He decorates the ship with whale teeth and his own prosthesis leg is made of a whale’s jaw bone.
Captain Ahab announces that he will offer a Doubloon (a precious gold coin) to the man who sees Moby Dick first and informs him. Apart from the crew, there are five more people on the ship whose leader is Fedallah. Captain Ahab tells that they are a special team to help him in hunting Mobi Dick. Fedallah is Ahab’s harpooner.
The Chief mate is Starbuck who opposes Ahab and says that he didn’t come to take revenge but to make money. Ishmael on the other hand, finds himself supporting captain Ahab.
Their ship Pequod makes 9 sea encounters or ‘gams’ with other whaler ships. A Gam is a social visit of the Captain and Chief mate of one ship to the other. The two captains meet at one ship, and the two chief mates meet at the other. Their first of the gams happens with Albatross whaler. Ahab asks whether they have seen the white whale. Ahab misses the customary meet because of his obsession with vengeance.
Pequod's second sea encounter is with whaler Town-Ho. This ship conveys a concealed story. A defiant crew person disobeys a rude and exploitative officer and the officer punishes him brutally. Later on, that officer chases Mobi Dick but he falls from the boat and Mobi Dick kills him.
On the course of the sea, Ahab’s crew members kill two whales, a Right Whale, and a Sperm Whale. They fasten the head of the two whales on yardarms opposite each other. Ishmael compares them philosophically and says the right whale represents Lockean, stoic and the sperm whale represents Kantian, platonic.
A sea-storm causes severe damage to the boats of the ship Pequod. While others suggest Ahab return, he becomes more adamant to take revenge. In the storm, many boats are lost in the sea and they seek Ahab’s help but he refuses and continues to search Mobi Dick.
Pequod's Next Gam happens with the whaler Rachel. Rachel represents Angelic help. The captain of this ship Captain Gardiner. This ship is searching for its crew members who went behind Mobi Dick to chase it but were lost. Captain Gardiner asks Ahab to help him in searching them but he refuses and goes on in his quest to kill Mobi Dick.
The last gams of Peaquod are with whaler Delight. It is in an almost destroyed state and many crew members have been killed by Moby Dick. The Captain of Delight shouts that Mobi Dick cannot be killed, the harpoon which can kill Mobi Dick hasn’t been forged yet. But Ahab refuses to listen and continues his search.
The next day, Ahab feels the presence of Mobi Dick in nearby waters. He takes the gold coin himself as he was the first person to see Mobi Dick. He orders all except Starbucks to lower their boats and chase Mobi Dick. Mobi Dick attacks and destroys many boats including Ahab’s boat leaving Ahab in the waters. His harpooner Fedallah is also killed. Ahab also loses his whalebone leg but returns back to the ship.
Starbucks requests his captain to give up his obsession and return but Ahab says that he will return only after slaying Mobi Dick. Starbucks feels like shooting and killing captain Ahab as he sleeps, but doesn’t do so.
Ahab sees Mobi Dick again on the third day and many sharks also come along with the albino whale. Ahab lowers his boat again to attack Moby Dick with the other two boats and harpooners. Starbucks again remains back on the board while Ishmael accompanies Ahab. However, Mobi Dick destroys two boats. Ahab plants his harpoon in the white whale’s flank. In pain, Moby Dick destroys the last boat too and vanishes away. All others return to the ship but Ishmael fails to return and he is left behind in the sea.
Now Moby Dick attacks the ship Pequod brutally and destroys it. All drown and Mobi Dick kills them while Ahab is on the other side. Mobi Dick returns to Ahab in waters and Ahab stabs the whale with his harpoon again. However, the wire of his harpoon gets tangled and it loops on his neck. Being hurt, Moby Dick swims back and Ahab is strangulated as his neck was entangled with the wire attached with the harpoon stabbed in Mobi Dick.
Thus, every crew member of the ship dies except Ishmael who was left behind. He keeps on floating on the water for a day and a night and then he sees the whaler Rachel again which was still searching for their lost crew members. Captain Gardiner rescues Ishmael and saves his life. Ishmael feels that the ship Rachel is the Angel of God who came to save his life.
The main weakness of captain Ahab was his pride that lead him to the path of self-destruction despite being warned by his crew-members, sailors, and nature itself many a time.
4) Billy Budd, Sailor (1924)
The last work of Melville was Billy Budd, the Sailor. It is an unfinished work without a clear ending as Melville died in 1891 before completing this novella. His wife and his biographer tried to complete the book as per their own intentions and transcriptions and it was published in the year 1924. It also got a huge success.
The story-line is interesting. Billy Budd is a handsome sailor who is falsely accused of treachery by a fellow sailor. While refuting, they both fight and Billy Budd inadvertently kills the other sailor without the intent of murder. The ship captain Edward Vere realizes that Billy Budd is innocent and he was falsely accused of treachery and his intentions were also not to kill the murdered sailor. However, as per the law of mutiny, Billy Budd must be sentenced to death.
Battle Pieces and Aspects of War (1866)
So these were the four major works of Herman Melville, Typee, Omoo, Mobi Dick, and Billy Budd. Apart from these, Melville also tried poetry. The title of his poetry collection is Battle-Pieces and Aspects of War which was published in the year 1866. It is a collection of poetry written on the subject of the Civil War of America. While these poems were recognized but weren’t appreciated much during the life of Melville. However, in the latter half of the twentieth century, his poems and especially this collection Battle Pieces and Aspects of War was hugely appreciated and many critics mentioned it as one of the best series of Civil War lyrics next only to that of Walt Whitman.
That is all for today, we will come up with another literary gem of American Literature in our next vlog. Please subscribe to the Discourse and stay connected. Thanks and regards!
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