The Navy In The Navy: A Life Of Herman Melville

At time in life when one face hardship, some would choose to run away and other would face it. Unfortunately, Herman Melville chose to run from his problems , but he gradually grain some guts to face his problems. Herman Melville, unlike some of us was born in too a very prosperous family,which mean his parent had high standards for him. His father , Allan Melville , was the owner of his own business, but his state mind to keep his family happy made him buy items that are out of his price range resulting in many debts. As time pass on the debts kept to stack and Allan’s business went out of business , which cause him to go mad and commit suicide. With the lost of his father, Melville face many problems,in the following ways : (1) the amount …show more content…
His cynicism about civilized behavior was further hardened on this voyage as he saw 163 seamen and apprentices flogged.”(Michael 2013). At the moment of time the navy was very new ,which meant there were not much restriction to what you can and can not do in the navy . So as a result, people started flogging(torturing people with a cat-o'nine-tails or other object) as a way to show dominance in the navy and unfortunately Melville crew participated in these activated. After experiencing such horror of seem people he knew get flogged in front of him.He commence writing his book White Jacket (1850), his address the issue of flogging and declaring as inhuman. Which he believe that it would harm a person physical and mental to the point where the person doesn't see himself as a human being. As Melville was attending to do the public outrage about flogging happening in the navy and demanded the government to something to address the issue quickly. So, on the same year that White Jacket was published the congress agree to ban flogging from ever happening again in the navy. So you can say that Herman Melville was quite the hero to stand up against a big crowd that were participating in flogging and saving the lives that could had been lost due to this awful tradition. Also without the interest in human and civilization that came from the sea voyages due to the debts , flogging could …show more content…
Moby dick was used to write essay and to show good examples of symbolism , and themes. As time past on after the production of the new edition of Melville famous novel , people started to become accustomed to symbolism and finding the uniqueness, as well as for the personal experiences put in Melville’s work. “By this time, readers were more accustomed to symbolism and psychological fiction and recognized the originality and power of Melville’s writing, with many proclaiming Moby Dick the Great American Novel for its insight into the contradictory motives underlying so much of American experience.” (Michael 2013) In Melville time symbolism was not a massive massive thing to could be found in books unlike today. So, Melville never had the idea to put symbolism in his books. Until, Hawthorne encourage Melville to impie symbolism into his books. Melville took the advice to heart and implemented into his famous book ,Moby Dick. As said before people at first didn’t understand the book and attack due to the lack of discovering the symbolism. So as time progresses people became smarter , which resulted in understanding literature on a much larger scale than before. To a point where people could finally understand the symbolism Melville put in Moby Dick. Not only Melville intimates symbolism , but he also added the element of theme as well. You might have been