Parallels Between Billy Budd and the Life of Melville
As with many great works of literature, it is important to become familiar with the author's life and time period in which he or she lived. This understanding helps to clarify the significance and meaning of his or her work. In many ways, Billy Budd depicts issues of importance to Herman Melville with both direct and indirect parallels to the time of the Civil War and to particular individuals of Melville's life. Important to the creation of Billy Budd were the war, current politics, slavery, and even the assassination of President Lincoln. This essay intends to identify the analogous relationship between these incidences and the particular individuals of Melville's life that inspired him to write Billy Budd.
Melville seems to have lived a life that was inevitably centered around war and politics. His grandparents were fighters during the Revolutionary War and Melville was of age 42 when the Civil War erupted. Melville also spent a large part of his life as a sailor. Although he never participated in the war in any official capacity, we see evidence of how the Civil War was of glaring significance in his life by examining Billy Budd and most of his other works.
Politics were an important factor in the life of Herman Melville. Although he was known to never vote, he held tenaciously to his socio-political opinions. During that time, it was common for politics to be a big topic of family discussion as common political beliefs were strengtheners of the American family. Around then, major dissension existed between the Democrats and the Republicans. Also, families lived and behaved according to a particular faction's ideals. The Melville family generally shared the ...
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...lways. Melville was slowly saying "goodbye" to his sailorman days. His hopes that the world would view advancement in the destructive way he perceived it to be were shattered. As The Civil War World mentioned the parallel, "like the death of Billy Budd in Herman's last romance, it takes its significance from the mystery of life, from the existential beauty of youth in its heedless and vigorous dreamlike march toward its starry end," Melville died with his goal unreached, despite his attempts to communicate to Americans through creative literature. Herman Melville's Billy Budd offers us insightful thoughts about the struggle between good vs. evil, Christ vs. Satan, subordination vs. insubordination, advancement vs. stagnation and manages to correlate them all in one novel.
Works Cited:
Melville, Herman. Billy Budd and Other Tales. New York: Signet - NAL, 1961.
Melville interjected a positive feeling into the narrative, White Jacket, by introducing three humanitarians. These included: Mad Jack, Colbrook, and Jack Chase. Each of these characters spoke out against corporal punishment in the narrative; however, the ultimate decision to punish the men remained in the hands of the unforgiving captains at sea. The main character of the novel occurred as White Jacket. Unfortunately, he committed an unwitting offense and was to be subjected to flogging. In his frantic last moments prior to flogging, White Jacket envisioned himself grabbing Captain Claret and flinging them both over the side to the more forgiving sea. Fortunately, humanitarians, Colbrook and Chase, both stepped forward at great risk to themselves and saved White Jacket from humiliation and abuse. White Jacket's desperate attempt to elude punishment conveyed to society the drastic measures needed to induce change. In the end, it remained obvious that Melville likened the ship to a working model of society. He observed that naval discipline was not compatible with democratic ideology. Author Eleanor Simpson stated in her essay, "Melville and the Negro," that Melville attacks all forms of arbitrary government and legalized brutality. Though his immediate target is the military machine as codified in the Articles of War, his whole stance is one of democratic rebellion against the law or act of government, which undermines or simply ignores the dignity and rights of men.
Billy Budd, a novella written by Herman Melville, is the story of the happenings aboard the H.M.S. Bellipotent. Billy Budd was a sailor who was falsely accused of plans to a mutiny. He responded by unintentionally killing his accuser, John Claggart. Claggart's death left the captain and commander of the ship, Edward Vere, in a difficult situation (Calhoun 1). The conflict of this story and Captain Vere's decision have been studied, analyzed, and interpreted differently by many people over the last ninety years. Billy Budd was published in 1924, more than thirty years after the death of its author (Calhoun 1). In 1923, just one year before the publishing of the entire novella, Melville's manuscript was published (Shaw 592). To this day,
Reuben, Paul P. PAL: Perspectives in American Literature- A Research and Reference Guide. Chapter 10: James Baldwin (1924-1987). 3 November 2011. April 2012 .
Bud from the novel Bud, Not Buddy and Rudyard Kipling the author of the poem “If” both have similar rules to live by.
Herman Melville wrote some of the most widely read works in the history of literature during the late nineteenth century. He has become a writer with whom the romantic era is associated and a man whose works have become a standard by which modern literature is judged. One of his most well-known and widely studied short pieces of fiction is a story entitled, simply, Billy Budd. In this short story, Melville tells the tale of Billy Budd, a somewhat out-of-place stuttering sailor who is too innocent for his own good. This enchanting tale, while inevitably entertaining, holds beneath it many layers of interpretive depth and among these layers of interpretation, an idea that has been entertained in the literature of many other romantic writers. Melville uses a literary technique of developing two characters that are complete opposites in all aspects and contrasting them throughout the narrative, thus allowing their own personalities to adversely compliment each other. Melville also uses this tactic in another well-known short story, Bartleby the Scrivener. Much like Melville's two stories, another romantic writer, Nathaniel Hawthorne, uses this tactic in his short story, The Artist of the Beautiful when he creates two completely different characters who vie for the same woman's love. Both writers use the contrary characters to represent the different facets of the human personality. Using this idea and many others, these romantic writers, Melville and Hawthorne, created works with depth of meaning that were both interesting to read and even more intriguing to interpret.
Wilson, Sarah. "Melville and the Architecture of Antebellum Masculinity." American Literature 76.1 (2004): 59-87. Duke University Press. Web. 24 Nov. 2012.
Written by Herman Melville, Billy Budd, Sailor (An Inside Narrative) describes the story of a sailor named William "Billy" Budd who is exchanged for another sailor to work aboard the warship H.M.S. Bellipotent. Billy is described as the Handsome Sailor, and his innocence is exposed through his actions. However, his innocence leads to his ignorance when he is believed to be apart of a mutiny by his rival John Claggart, who is the master-at-arms aboard the ship. Claggart reveals his accusations to Captain Edward Fairfax Vere. Unable to defend himself through words, Budd punches Claggart in the head and kills him. Captain Vere and the drumhead court, the first lieutenant, the captain of marines, and the sailing master, then decide the fate of Billy. Even though they recognize Billy's innocence, Captain Vere and the court decides that he should be hung for his actions. Billy Budd, Sailor ends with the hanging of the Handsome Sailor and concludes with a ballad titled "Billy in the Darbies". During the 1840s, Melville was a seaman for several merchant and whaler ships. Afterwards, he wrote several novels including his novel The Whale, later renamed Moby Dick. After writing the novel Pierre and several short stories and poems, Melville's acclamation as a writer drastically dimenshed, and he began working at the New York Customhouse in the 1860s. After retiring from his job at the New York Customhouse, Melville began writing his poem "Billy in the Darbies," using his experience as a seaman for foundation. When Melville read an article titled "The Mutiny of Sumers," which convicted three sailors of mutiny, one of the officers who convicted them being his cousin, he decided to expand his poem into a longer prose to reveal the inside story o...
Melville, Herman. Billy Budd, Sailor and Other Stories. Ed. Frederick Busch. New York: Penguin, 1986.
In the era of Homer, women played a very specific role in society, and even in literature. Women of this time were basically put in a box, and expected to never step out of line. If they did go against the arbitration of men, then they were faced with serious consequences. However, female characters play a huge role in both aiding, and delaying Odysseus’s journey home. I will proceed to analyze, and interpret the actions and intentions of every major female character in The Odyssey.
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.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by the pseudonym Mark Twain, has been central to American literature for over a century. His seemingly effortless diction accurately exemplified America’s southern culture. From his early experiences in journalism to his most famous fictional works, Twain has remained relevant to American writing as well as pop culture. His iconic works are timeless and have given inspiration the youth of America for decades. He distanced himself from formal writing and became one of the most celebrated humorists. Mark Twain’s use of the common vernacular set him apart from authors of his era giving his readers a sense of familiarity and emotional connection to his characters and himself.
Adrenaline makes your heart beat faster and your eyes dilate, effects that can last longer than you might like.
Works Cited “American Literature 1865-1914.” Baym 1271. Baym, Nina et al. Ed. The Norton Anthology of American Literature.
Belasco, Susan, and Linck Johnson, eds. The Bedford Anthology of American Literature. Vol. 1, 2nd Ed., Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2014. 1190-1203. Print.
“A Tale Intended to be After the Fact…” is how Stephan Crane introduced his harrowing story, “The Open Boat,” but this statement also shows that history influences American Literature. Throughout history, there has been a connection among literary works from different periods. The connection is that History, current events, and social events have influenced American Literature. Authors, their literary works, and the specific writing styles; are affected and influenced by the world around them. Authors have long used experiences they have lived through and/or taken out of history to help shape and express in their works. Writing styles are also affected by the current trends and opinions of the period they represent. By reading American Literature, we have seen the inhumane treatment of slaves, we have seen the destruction caused by wars, and we have seen the devastation of eras such as The Great Depression.