Preview

Moby Dick and Transcendentalism

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1244 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Moby Dick and Transcendentalism
Historians today consider the book Moby-Dick by Herman Melville to be one of the great pieces of literature in American history. However when it was first published, critics thought differently (Cummings, Michael). The style of this novel was written in a very unusual narrative form. As a result of the books early unpopularity, Herman Melville wasn 't able to sell many copies (Moby-Dick/Overview). Today it is widely appreciated as a literary classic, and Moby-Dick is read by a large portion of Americans, particularly high school and college students (The Life and Works of Moby Dick). Moby-Dick produced bad reviews when it was first published because the author brought up sensitive topics such as religion, death, and problems in society through symbolism, something that was unheard of in that era Before writing the Moby-Dick, Herman Melville faced many tough challenges which made his personal views on life very unique. When Melville was just a young boy his father went insane and died (Moby; Cummings). His mother raised their family of eight kids, but they struggled financially and ended up bankrupt. The family 's economic status caused Melville to drop out of school and work on a whaling ship. His childhood experiences impacted his personal views in life dramatically. In Moby-Dick, the narrator presents the good and the bad through detailed observations. Melville portrays the narrator to be friendly towards others, yet he is really an outcast of society and prefers to be alone (Moby). Ishmael, the narrator, likes to escape to the sea whenever he is gloomy and needs a break from society.
I quietly take to the ship. There is nothing surprising in this. If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me (Melville 2).
This reference alludes to a transcendentalist idea of the value of nature.
Most of the story takes place out at sea on the whaling ship called the


Cited: Cummings, Michael. Moby Dick. 2004. Cummings Guides. 23 Nov. 2006 Melville, Herman. Moby-Dick. New York: Bantam Books, 1981 The Life and Works of Herman Melville. 25 Jul. 2000. Multiverse. 20 Nov. 2006 The New King James Bible. Thomas Nelson inc. Tennessee: Nashville, 1982. Van Spanckeren, Kathryn. An Outline of American Literature. 3 Jun. 2003. Department of Humanitites Computing. 23 Nov. 2006. < http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/lit/melville.htm> Moby Dick/Overview. 2006. Enotes. 20 Nov. 2006.
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Moby Dick 3.06 Essay Example
    • 546 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Moby Dick 3.06 Essay Example

    5. Why did Melville choose to write about whaling? Why was the industry significant? He chose to write about whaling, because he himself was once in the whaling business. The whaling business is important because whale’s oils can be used as lubricants and lantern fuel. The bones and blubber can also be very resourceful and helpful to human sustainability.…

    • 546 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Moby Dick Sperm Whale Character Analysis
    • 1849 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Moby Dick Sperm Whale Character Analysis

    The novel Moby Dick by Herman Melville is an epic tale of the voyage of the whaling ship the Pequod and its captain, Ahab, who relentlessly pursues the great Sperm Whale during a journey around the world. The narrator of the novel is Ishmael, a sailor on the Pequod who undertakes the journey out of his affection for the sea. He also doesn’t want to be in an important position, such as captain or cook, because then he’d have responsibilities, and that would really get him down to work and be able to have things to fill up his schedule during the day. Ishmael says that being a lowly sailor and getting ordered around does take some getting used to. He hadn’t really packed many things for his voyage just a few carpetbags and clothes. When he had entered the spouter inn he looked around being amazed about…

    • 1849 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Eng 3 Moby Dick
    • 610 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Eng 3 Moby Dick

    2. Who is the narrator of Moby Dick and what is the first line of the novel? Ishmael is the narrator of the novel and his first line states: “Call me Ishmael. Some years ago- never mind how long precisely, having little or no money in my purse and having nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world.…

    • 610 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    3.06 Moby Dick
    • 430 Words
    • 2 Pages

    3.06 Moby Dick

    4. For Captain Ahab, he sees Moby Dick as all that is evil in the universe, and believes he needs to be killed. For Starbuck, he has gone to sea “simply to hunt whales” he only wishes to kill the whale for oil, not for revenge for his captain. To Ishmael, Moby Dick is…

    • 430 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Brutality, Injustice, and Institution of Slavery is Wrong in any Age
    • 844 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Brutality, Injustice, and Institution of Slavery is Wrong in any Age

    Cited: Baym, Nina and Levine, Robert. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 8th ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company Inc. 2012…

    • 844 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Irony and Racial Uniqueness in Benito Cereno
    • 1845 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Irony and Racial Uniqueness in Benito Cereno

    Herman Melville was born in New York in 1819 so he grew up in a time where slavery was still common and accepted, but in an area in which blacks were treated with much more respect than they were in the south. His father 's relatives could be traced back to a man who was a part of the Boston Tea Party and both his mother and father had relatives who fought with the union in the Revolutionary war (Johnson). Melville had many jobs growing up, including teaching, being a bank clerk, and sailing on a whaling ship, which is what jump started his writing career (Johnson). Many of the stories that Melville writes take place out on the sea and tend to be quite adventurous and unexpected, much like Benito Cereno. This style is more than likely inspired by the number of his jobs being on ships growing up. These factors greatly influence the way he writes, especially relating to race in Benito Cereno. Benito Cereno is about an American whaling ship that comes across a Spanish slave boat that has been secretly taken over by the slaves. The majority of the story involves the captain roaming the ship and being quite suspicious with what is going on, but he never catches on to anything, until the very end when it is revealed the slaves are actually in control of the ship.. This story has many reoccurring elements of racial grayness and foreshadowing that occurs thought the entire story. Herman Melville 's unique take on race in Benito Cereno shows that both races, black and white, share a "gray area" of personalities that are rarely observed.…

    • 1845 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Moby Dick Passage Analysis
    • 1058 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Moby Dick Passage Analysis

    Three months pass with no further successes, and Pollard realizes that the Atlantic is fished out. The Essex sails for the Pacific hoping for better luck. In Ecuador, the officers meet a Spanish captain who tells them his crew found the bountiful "Offshore Grounds" 2,000 miles to the west, but claims that a vengeful "white whale" destroyed his ship. This mammoth creature not only destroyed their boat but took the caps army along with killing about 6 crew members. He warns them but they are too enthralled by the prospect. They choose to disbelieve the story of the white whale. Pollard and Chase lead the expedition west. They find the undisturbed grounds and find a beautiful sight of hundreds of whales, but when they launch the whaling boats, the white whale, a massive bull sperm whale, attacks. It ends up damaging the boats and turning on the ship, Chase harpoons it from the Essex's deck, but the whale stoves the ship three of four times and ends up creating a massive hole in the hull and breaking a mast eventually killing two men. The crew abandons the Essex on the three intact whaling boats and must sail hundreds of miles to shore on very limited supplies. The whale follows and attacks once more. They managed to escape to Henderson Island, but it is 2,000 miles away from home and with no sailing ship the journey seems…

    • 1058 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Comparing Henry David Thoreau and Herman Melville's Writings
    • 1726 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Comparing Henry David Thoreau and Herman Melville's Writings

    Comparing Henry David Thoreau and Herman Melville's Writings Henry David Thoreau and Herman Melville focused their writings on how man was affected by nature. They translated their philosophies though both the portrayal of their protagonist and their own self exploration. In Moby Dick, Melville writes about Ahab's physical and metaphysical struggle over the great white whale, Moby Dick, symbolic of man's struggle against the overwhelming forces of nature. Ahab's quest is reported and experienced through the eyes of Ishmael.…

    • 1726 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Transcendentalism In Moby Dick
    • 1817 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Transcendentalism In Moby Dick

    Ishmael, the narrator of the novel, is named after the biblical Ishmael who is the wrongly disinherited son of Abraham and Hagar (18). Both the biblical character and the narrator are portrayed as spiritual wanderers and outcasts. Ishmael tells his audience, “Whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the streets, and methodically knocking people’s hats off – then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and ball” (18). Ishmael admits he finds life on shore grim. Throughout Moby Dick there is “a symbolic opposition of land and sea, according to which the land stands for safety, security, conformity, orthodoxy, and so on, while the sea stands for the hidden, the secret, the half-known world where the other side of reality is shown and where alone one may find the full truth” (qtd. Romero). The sea is symbolically the realm of the Transcendentalist whereas the land seems to symbolize the realm of Calvinism. Melville, through saying that Ishmael felt a sense of doom on land where religious conformity was rampant, seems to be making a…

    • 1817 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Rhetorical Analysis Of Melville By Herman Melville
    • 426 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Rhetorical Analysis Of Melville By Herman Melville

    Melville’s emphasis of “no mercy, and no power” indicated the contentious and malevolent nature of the sea; in addition to the potent physical and mental characteristics mentioned before. By mentioning the danger and futile nature of the landsmen's mission to conquest, Melville advised the them to surrender before the sea took real action and caused unpredictable harm. The sea’s manipulative savvy, irrepressible strength, and relentless characteristic all seemed to belittle the human kind for their weak and underdeveloped whole, for men were deemed incapable to comprehend the perplexity of the sea and powerless to prevail the extensive sea physically. Melville extended upon the belittlement of men by the sea earlier on as well with a staggering contrast in word choice. He stated that though “baby men” were pleased with their prolonged sea-discoveries and advanced technology, the potent and ruthless sea would still “insult and murder” them.…

    • 426 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Moby Dick
    • 398 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Moby Dick

    1. In this video, we immediately learn of an obsessed captain who wants revenge. Why does he want revenge and against whom or what?…

    • 398 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    W.J.T Mitchell and Representation
    • 636 Words
    • 3 Pages

    W.J.T Mitchell and Representation

    This leads to a further breakdown of representation provided by Aristotle who claims that, "representations differ from one another in three ways: in object, manner and means. The ‘object' is that which is represented; the ‘manner' is the way in which it is represented; the ‘means' is the material that is used" (13). In other words, without these three items together, representation presents difficulties examining particular ideas and their roots. For example, Moby Dick by Herman Melville explores the limits of knowledge, deceptiveness of fate, surface and depths, the Pequod and Moby Dick itself. These symbols, also known as objects, provide themes represented throughout the novel to gain understanding of the author's outlook on life and more specifically, the life of Ishmael, the main character. Melville uses…

    • 636 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Moby Dick - Loomings
    • 335 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Moby Dick - Loomings

    In the novel, Moby Dick, written by Herman Melville, the main character, Ishmael, carries a passionate tone toward the water. To begin with, Ishmael says that, “whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul… then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can” (Melville 27). This portrays that the ocean calms him in ways that being on land can’t. When he needs to escape his everyday life, he methodically results to sailing. Also, Ishmael asks himself if, “Niagra [were] but a cataract of the sand, would you travel your thousand miles to see it?” (Melville 29). This suggests that he thinks highly of the element of water. Thus, he references Niagra falls because people travel from around the world to catch a glimpse of it. Ishmael wonders if, “upon your first voyage as a passenger, did you yourself feel such a mystical vibration, when first told that you and your ship were now of sight and land?” (Melville 29). This demonstrates that the ocean brings out feelings and emotions in Ishmael that would otherwise be left untouched. When he is on land like everybody else, he feels no different than those around him. However, on a ship, Ishmael believes he is living out his purpose. He also mentions that when one is a sailor, “It touches one’s sense of honour” (Melville 30). Ishmael strongly believes that being a sailor is of the highest and upmost regard. He feels extremely honored to call himself one. Lastly, he remarks that, “in this world, head winds are far more prevalent than winds from astern” (Melville 31). This symbolizes that Ishmael prefers being surrounded by the ocean rather than by people. Winds at sea are known to be far more ferocious than that on land, yet Ishmael says that he prefers it. He feels a sense of freedom on the ship, surrounded by water, than he would on land. As you can see, Ishmael’s tone is passionate toward the…

    • 335 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Moby Dick
    • 22233 Words
    • 89 Pages

    Moby Dick

    Inside the Spouter-Inn, Ishmael finds a large, somewhat inscrutable oil painting, which he finally determines to be a depiction of a whale attacking a ship. On the other wall is a collection of “monstrous clubs and spears.” Because the inn is nearly full, Ishmael learns that he will have to share a room with “a dark complexioned” harpooner named Queequeg. He passes the evening in the bar with “a wild set of mariners,” waiting for Queequeg to arrive. Out of apprehension, Ishmael decides that he would rather sleep on a bench than share a bed with some strange, possibly dangerous man. The bench is too uncomfortable,…

    • 22233 Words
    • 89 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Morality In Moby Dick
    • 402 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Morality In Moby Dick

    How might someone set their own morals? Morality is the system through which we determine right and wrong, the guide to good or right conduct. If someone witnesses something that they deem wrong, they set morals so they can assure themselves that they will never be like the wrongdoer.…

    • 402 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More