The Nobility of Labor and the
Common Man
The whaling industry in the 1800’s went largely unnoticed by people of high social standing. Businessmen, attornies, and other professionals frowned upon whaling. Many viewed whalers as nothing more than common butchers killing to make a living. Society looked down on people who would dirty their hands, or lower themselves to such common labor. Melville’s portrayal of the whaling industry countered these beliefs. He showed that whaling took men of great courage and bravery. The characters aboard the Pequod demonstrated tremendous spirit. Their adventures placed the whaling industry in a very different light. With carefully designed characters, and a well-ordered world on board the Pequod, Moby Dick portray the life of a whaler as clearly noble and anything but common.
Queequeg was a vehicle for dispelling one of the myths of 19th century America. The development of his character powerfully supported the author’s intent. Though Queequeg was first introduced as a savage, it soon became apparent that h...
Analysis: Melville's Great American Novel draws on both Biblical and Shakespearean myths. Captain Ahab is "a grand, ungodly, god-like man … above the common" whose pursuit of the great white whale is a fable about obsession and over-reaching. Just as Macbeth and Lear subvert the natural order of things, Ahab takes on Nature in his
In Herman Melville’s world-renowned tale, Moby Dick, the crew aboard the Pequod sail the seas in order to hunt, capture, and kill a mysteriously terrifying sperm whale named “Moby Dick”. For centuries, humans have used technological advances to protect their elite status in the animal kingdom, at the unfortunate expense of species ignorantly perceived as being too weak or unintelligent to fight back. Moby Dick illuminates one of the most historically cruel instances of selfishly-oriented, industrial engineering: whaling and hunting animals for sport. Humans and animals are the only living creatures with a similar state of consciousness and this cognitive interconnectedness binds the two species together in ways that can only be speculated and
In conclusion, this essay analyzes the similarities and differences of the two stories written by Herman Melville, Billy Budd and Bartleby. The settings, characters, and endings in the two stories reveal very interesting comparisons and contrasts. The comparison and contrast also includes the interpretation of the symbolism that Melville used in his two stories. The characters, Billy and Bartleby, could even be considered autobiographical representatives of Herman Melville.
Herman Melville’s novels, with good reason, can be called masculine. Moby-Dick may, also with good reason, be called a man’s book and that Melville’s seafaring episode suggests a patriarchal, anti-feminine approach that adheres to the nineteenth century separation of genders. Value for masculinity in the nineteenth century America may have come from certain expected roles males were expected to fit in; I argue that its value comes from examining it not alone, but in relation to and in concomitance with femininity. As Richard H. Brodhead put it, Moby-Dick is “so outrageously masculine that we scarcely allow ourselves to do justice to the full scope of masculinism” (Brodhead 9). I concur with Brodhead in that remark, and that Melville’s use of flagrant masculinity serves as a vehicle in which femininity is brought on board The Pequod; femininity is inseparable from masculinity in Melville’s works, as staunchly masculine as they seem superficially.
Over the duration of the last century, abortion in the Western hemisphere has become a largely controversial topic that affects every human being. In the United States, at current rates, one in three women will have had an abortion by the time they reach the age of 45. The questions surrounding the laws are of moral, social, and medical dilemmas that rely upon the most fundamental principles of ethics and philosophy. At the center of the argument is the not so clear cut lines dictating what life is, or is not, and where a fetus finds itself amongst its meaning. In an effort to answer the question, lawmakers are establishing public policies dictating what a woman may or may not do with consideration to her reproductive rights. The drawback, however, is that there is no agreement upon when life begins and at which point one crosses the line from unalienable rights to murder.
Before affiliating the crew aboard the ship with Moby Dick, there are some comparisons to be made between them and ocean inhabitants in general. While living in the ocean environment the men begin to acquire the same survival techniques as some of the organisms in the ocean. The manner in which the whalers go about slaughtering the whales is much like the way that the sharks react to the whale carcass being held stagnate in the water. "....because such incalculable hosts of sharks gather round the moored carcass, that were he left so for six hours, say, on a stretch, little more that the skeleton would be visible by mornong"(Melville 328). These sharks are savages in the face of sustenance. In most cases the sheer size of the whale prohibits it from being captured and consumed by the sharks. The only chance that they have at these huge beasts is when they are slung along side the whaling ships. Once they have their opening to this plethora of meat it becomes a barbaric feeding frenzy. These actions of the sharks reflect the actions of the whalers when taking part in the slaying of a whale. "Soon ranging up by his flank, Stubb, firmly planting his knee in the clumsy cleat, darted dart after dart into the flying gish.
“I think life is sacred, whether it’s abortion or the death penalty”- Tim Kaine. One of the most talked about ethical dilemmas is abortion. It seems everyone (and every faith) has a different opinion on the subject. Some people feel that abortion should be legalized, while others think that abortion should not be legalized. Judaism supports “pro choice” (meaning that the mother can make the choice of whether or not to have an abortion) but only in certain conditions. Judaism, unlike religions such as Christianity (which strictly forbids abortion), feels that abortion can be done however only for extenuating circumstances.
Herman Melville’s stories of Moby Dick and Bartleby share a stark number of similarities and differences. Certain aspects of each piece seem to compliment each other, giving the reader insight to the underlying themes and images. There are three concepts that pervade the two stories making them build upon each other. In both Moby Dick and Bartleby the main characters must learn how to deal with an antagonist, decide how involved they are in their professions, and come to terms with a lack of resolution.
Abortion’s legalization through Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade, has allowed for one in three pregnancies to end in abortion. This means that 1.5 million abortions are performed in the United States each year (Flanders 3). It ranks among the most complex and controversial issues, arousing heated legal, political, and ethical debates. The modern debate over abortion is a conflict of competing moral ideas and of fundamental human rights: to life, to privacy, to control over one's own body. Trying to come to a compromise has proven that it one cannot please all of the people on each side of the debate.
When it comes to abortion there is always much hostility when discussing the topic. Abortion is the deliberate termination of a human pregnancy. This procedure often done when 28 weeks pregnant. Many people consider abortion to be cruel and an act of murder. Although some will advocate for abortions, those who have religious beliefs will say that no one but God has the right to take someone’s life. Those who support abortion do not consider an unborn child a human that should be protected. The issue of abortion is very difficult when determining if it’s right or wrong. Therefore, I am going to give my philosophical argument from the “pro-life” perspective.
At first glance, Herman Melville’s novel Moby Dick, appears to be the story of a man, his captain, and the whale that they quest to destroy. But a closer look reveals the author’s intense look at several metaphysical ideologies. He explores some of the most ponderous quandaries of his time, among these being the existence of evil, knowledge of the self and the existential, and the possibility of a determined fate. All of these were questions which philosophers had dealt with and written about, but Melville took it to a new level: not only writing about these things, but also doing so in a lovely poetic language backed by a tale packed with intrigue. He explores the general existence of evil in his antagonist, the white whale, and through the general malice that nature presents to humans throughout the novel. The narrator, Ishmael, gains a lot of knowledge about himself through his experiences on the whaling voyage, where he also is able to learn much about the phenomenon of existence itself. Also, through Captain Ahab, he sees more about the existence of man and the things that exist within man’s heart. Especially through Ahab and his ongoing quest for the white whale, and also in general conversation amongst the whalers, the issue of fate and whether one’s destiny is predetermined are addressed in great detail, with much thought and insight interpolated from the author’s own viewpoints on the subject.
Their reasons are firstly that parents have a duty to care for their child and not abort it and secondly that we should treat everyone as an ends in themselves, not as a mean to an ends. The deontological perspective expresses that we are to do our duty, no matter what. If a woman becomes pregnant and has a child she immediately has a duty to her child to care and protect it. By aborting a pregnancy the woman is not doing her duty, to take care of her child. Our responsibilities of being a human include our duties, not that choices that we make. Another part of deontology takes the pro-life stance on abortion is the idea of treating people as a mean to an end. A classic deontological view point on abortion is one that uses premises, to prove a point. “1. The unborn is obviously a human life. 2. It is wrong to take a human life. 3. Abortion is taking a human life. 4. Therefore abortion is wrong.” (Vaugh, 167). This list of statements that leads to a conclusion that clearly lays out the fact that is the unborn child is in fact a human life and by taking away a human life you are exhausting that life as a means to an end for yourself and not as an end in itself. A deontologist would convey that a child whether born or unborn, should never be treated as an end in itself and abortion should never use to end the child’s life for the convenience of the
Abortion is defined as a procedure that is done to remove an embryo or fetus from the uterus of its mother in order to prevent its birth (Roth, 2005). Abortion is categorized as a bioethical issue because it relates to the morals of biomedical advances, policies and research. Abortion is a difficult subject that can involve personal morals and beliefs, legality and religious values. The issue is often viewed from either the side of pro-life, which places emphasis on the fetus and its right to life or pro-choice, which emphasizes the rights of the mother to decide the appropriate action (Roth, 2005). This brings the ethical question of should the government have the right to outlaw abortion into debate. The two viewpoints of pro-life and pro-choice explore the two main moral issues concerning abortion (Roth, 2005).
We cannot play God nor be so judgmental when others decide to make a choice that we do not sit comfortably with. They have to live their lives to the fullest and we must do the same. There are many cases where the woman was impregnated due to an assault, and decided to get rid of the child because it brings them so much hurt and pain knowing that this child that has been conceived was unintentional and would bring negative thoughts, behaviors and plenty of aggression to that child later in life. Some decide to keep the child but those that aborted them see that there is still hope for the future even if they do not have this baby at that moment. Some argue that the baby is not really a baby until after twenty-six weeks. The positive out looks of an abortion does not put weight the negative aspects of an abortion. But this does not give us the right to determine someone 's fate or future based off of their choice to abort a child. Many women become rape victims and must then choose to have the child or not and when that person decides to abort the world forgets her damage and begins to condemn. A woman has the choice to be as free as a bird with no cage. This is being described as having freedom to do whatever she wants and achieve her own goals while not living in anyone 's shadow. She could have the abortion but it should not be forced, or she
“In Twenty-first Century America, there are two classes of human beings, one protected by constitutional law and the other not. Human beings fully protected by constitutional law are those individuals who have already been born, and are recognized in law as persons. The second group consists of the unborn, which can be defined as the unborn human being from the time of its creation, in or outside of the human body and encompasses all forms of its existence, growth, and development, including zygote, pre-embryo, embryo, and fetus. The law does not recognize these “humans” as persons. Judicial fiat institutionalizes this status of being “separate and unequal.” An unborn human being is doomed unless it is wanted and chosen by its mother to be born alive” (Lugosi 226). Besides a few circumstances, most abortions are morally wrong because they are equivalent to murder, deny the right to life, and brutal.