Herman Melville & Moby Dick

							Herman Melville
      &
  Moby Dick
 Mountain Pointe
  Junior English
               Herman’s Life


• Born August 1st, 1819, New York City
  • Father: Allan Melville—importer of French goods
  • Mother: Maria—daughter of Revolutionary War
    hero
• During economic depression, family business
  failed
  • Father died leaving family in debt
             Herman’s Life
• Herman sought numerous jobs to support
  mother & siblings
  • Life of poverty & no college education
  • 19 years old he became a seaman on ships
    traveling around the world
     •Adventures abroad served as material for
       first two novels: Typee (1846); Omoo
       (1847)
                Herman’s Life
• 1847: Married Elizabeth Shaw
• After meeting members of New York literary scene,
  began writing articles for The Literary World and
  Yankee Doodle
• Publications:
   – 1849: Mardi
   – 1849: Redburn
   – 1850: White-Jacket
• All novels not well received by public & deemed too
  serious/melancholy to reach wide audience
                Herman’s Life
• 1850: Purchased farm in MA
   – Became neighbor & close friend to author
     Nathaniel Hawthorn
America: Portrait of an Author
                    Moby Dick
• 1851: Published
   – Dedicated to Nathaniel Hawthorne
   – Like other novels, not highly acclaimed at first
      • Critics/readers confused & disappointed
          –Expecting narrative similar to past
            publications

• Melville tormented over novel’s failure
  – Gave up writing professionally
  – Worked as customs inspector at New York harbor
    for 19 years
     Melville’s Death and Beyond
• 1891: Melville died
• 1920’s: Melville revival
   – Moby-Dick gained great status
      • Deemed one of America’s greatest writers
Moby Dick and Whaling in America
                 Themes
• The Limits of Knowledge: Ishmael tries
 to understand the whale but is unsuccessful.
 This suggests that human knowledge is
 insufficient and limited and therefore cannot
 understand everything; no matter how hard
 they try
                   Themes
• The Deceptiveness of Fate: Ishmael’s
  narrative has many references to fate (The
  Pequod’s doom is inevitable). Ahab
  manipulates the sailors belief in fate (He
  suggests that the quest for Moby Dick is
  destiny). The sailor’s various interpretations of
  the gold doubloon.
• (Humans believe things the
   way they want to when
   interpreting signs/omens.)
Themes
                  Themes
• The Exploitative Nature of Whaling:
 The whaling activities of the 19th century
 nearly exterminated the sperm whale—all for
 the oil its blubber could produce. Just like the
 buffalo hunting and the treatment of the
 Native American tribes, the
 American/European expansion did not take
 into consideration the impact of the various
 money-making activities.
The Pequod as a Little Democracy
           Moby Dick: Symbols
• Complex Symbol that represents all that is
  paradoxical, unexplainable, and uncontrollable in
  nature.
   – Nourishing/Destructive
   – Powerful/Graceful
   – Unpredictable and Mindless/Controlled by natural
     laws
   – Like nature, Moby-Dick seems indestructible and
     at the same time indifferent to human morality
           Moby Dick: Colors
• White represents (to Ishmael) the
  unnatural/threatening

        –Reverses traditional association of
         whiteness with purity
        –Conveys contradictions (i.e. purity and
         goodness and emptiness and death)
         Moby Dick: Characters
• Ishmael: The narrator; junior member of the crew of
  the Pequod
• Ahab: The egomaniacal captain of the Pequod who
  lost his leg to Moby-Dick
• Uses charisma & terror to persuade crew in his
  pursuit of the whale
   – Dictatorial but not unfair
• Moby-Dick: The great white whale
   – Infamous & dangerous threat to seamen
   – Ahab’s fated nemesis: truly evil
          Moby Dick: Characters
• Starbuck: The Pequod’s 1st mate—
  - Questions Ahab’s judgment
     Religious man: Believes Christianity offers a way to
     interpret the world
• Queequeg - Starbuck’s harpooner & Ishmael’s best
  friend
  - Former prince from a South Sea Island
  - Stowed away on whaling ship in search
    for adventure.
  - Brave & generous; Teaches Ishmael to
     see race is inconsequential to man’s
     character.
        Moby Dick: Characters
• Stubb: The Pequod’s 2nd mate
   – Easygoing & popular with mischievous good
     humour
   – Trusts fate & refuses to assign too much
     significance to anything
• Tashtego: Stubb’s harpooner
   – Gay Head Indian from Martha’s Vineyard
   – Has certain characteristics of the “noble
     savage”
   – Like Qeequeg, meant to defy racial
     stereotypes
   – More practical & less intellectual than
     Queequeg
        Moby Dick: Characters
• Flask: The Pequod’s 3rd mate
   – Short and stocky man with a
     confrontational attitude and no reverence
     for anything
• Daggoo: Flask’s harpooner
   – Physically enormous and authoritative-
     looking African
   – Less prominent character than Queequeg or
     Tashtego.
Melville’s Final Years
      A Side –Note on Starbucks
• The name of the company was derived from
  Moby-Dick, although not in as direct a fashion
  as many assume. Gordon Bowker (original
  Starbucks owner) liked the name "Pequod"
  (the ship in the novel), but his then creative
  partner Terry Heckler responded, "No one's
  going to drink a cup of Pee-quod!"
      A Side –Note on Starbucks
• The logo is an image of a "twin-tailed siren”
• Much like the mermaid on a ship’s figurehead