Herman Melville

ambitious, and by devising the system he distances himself from ad-hoc naturalists, the mere observer and recorder, calling himself “the architect, not the builder” (MD, p.116) This aspect of novel substantiates the naturalistic philosophy adopted by Herman…

Like all of humanity, the characters in Bartleby: The Scrivener by Herman Melville are imperfect. Humans have all felt pain, fear, insecurity, disappointment, and regret at some point in our lives; It is simply our nature to possess flaws. Perfection is an illusion, existing only in our minds. In truth, everything humans do in this life is an effort to correct our flaws, whether they realize this or not. We love one another and seek knowledge in an attempt to better ourselves. The Lawyer, who…

In Herman Melville’s Typee we are introduced to the leaders of the tribe, Mow-Mow and Mehevi. Through both characters Melville gives us the two possible nature of the Typee tribe, one being good and the other bad. But because both leaders possess the title “savage”, it is impossible to truly pinpoint one of them and say he’s less savage or a better savage. Throughout the story we are given perspective to both characters in the eyes of the main character Tommo. Through the simple minded eyes of…

David Yang AP Lang Period 3/4 20 December 2014 Transcendentalism Throughout American History “People who lean on logic and philosophy and rational exposition end by starving the best part of the mind.” William Butler Yeats, a famed Irish poet, believed creativity and emotion did not stem from reason and logic. His words echoed the thoughts of the Romantics, a group of early nineteenth century writers, poets and artists who defied the ideas of the Age of Reason and sought to build a new, more…

Is Moby-Dick a Gothic novel? If one were to Google what genre the book falls under, the most popular result he or she will receive is “American Romanticism”, which makes sense considering the time period Herman Melville wrote it. In fact, the novel is third on the list of “Popular American Romanticism Books” featured on the Goodreads’ website. Yet, when researching further into the characteristics of a Gothic novel, the possibility of Melville’s book being a Gothic seems less and less absurd.…

Herman Melville’s Benito Cereno is a political satire about black slavery. Even though it was a comedic satire, it also provoked notions about blacks and how they are not much different from their captors. This was especially powerful because it was published during the time of the civil war. Captain Delano speaks to Benito Cereno towards the end of the story: “‘You are saved,’ cried Captain Delano, more and more astonished and pained; ‘you are saved; what has cast such a shadow upon you?’”…

conflicting view of revolution has existed throughout history. In addition, several different visions of “revolution” have been studied and written about. Marx and Engels’ Communist Manifesto describes a social revolution, while in Benito Cereno, Melville illustrates a violent slave revolt. Although the concepts of these revolutions do have their differences, they both encompass the idea of a disenfranchised group rising up against their oppressors. In their Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx and…

you dreamed of, that's what I think about the life. I never worry about what is going to happen in my future, because my sister told me I just get myself ready for everything that may be coming, so I can face the obstacle bravely. The author, Herman Melville once said, “I know not all that may be coming, but it what it will, I will go to it laughing.” The meaning of the quote is just same as what my sister told me, that was not to be afraid of the future. There is a boy named Mark who was a…

girl who argues with her mother in the middle of a street. So, while the point of view in Rules of the Game tells us how it affects the story, we should dig more about the first person type view in the next story called Bartleby the Scrivener by Herman Melville.…

In this day and age, classics range from movies such as Titanic, to books such as Moby Dick, or even television shows such as I Love Lucy. But what makes something “classic”? Herman Melville, a classic author, stated that “To produce a mighty book you must choose a mighty theme.” In literature, theme is the main idea or underlying message of the book. The reason why in my opinion theme is the quality that makes a story classic is because it reaches the reader intellectually and emotionally. Good…