美国文学读书报告

外国语学院《美国文学》课程
读书报告
The reltion between Humn nd Nture o
Moby Dick
论《白鲸》小说人与自然的关系
指导教师：许晓琴教授、博士
学生姓名：李丹
班级：09级英语本科4班
学号：09280421
完成日期：2012年4月28日
The reltion between Humn nd Nture o
Moby Dick
I、Bsic Inormtion
Nme o the book: Moby Dick
Publishing house: Bntm clssics
Publishing time: 1981-02-01
ISBN: 0553213113
Reding dte: Winter vction, 2012
II、Introduction to the uthor
Hermn Melville (ugust 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) ws n mericn novelist, short story writer, essyist, nd poet. He is best known or his novel Moby-Dick. His irst three books gined much contemporry ttention (the irst, Typee, becoming bestseller), nd ter st-blooming literry success in the lte 1840s, his populrity declined precipitously in the mid-1850s nd never recovered during his lietime. When he died in 1891, he ws lmost completely orgotten. It ws not until the "Melville Revivl" in the erly 20th century tht his work won recognition, especilly Moby-Dick, which ws hiled s one o the literry msterpieces o both mericn nd world literture. He ws the irst writer to hve his works collected nd published by the Librry o meric.
Hermn Melville ws born in New York City on ugust 1, 1819,the third o eight children o lln nd Mri Gnsevoort Melville. Prt o well-estblished nd colorul Boston mily, Melville's ther spent good del o time brod s commission merchnt nd n importer o rench dry goods. The uthor's pternl grndther, Mjor Thoms Melvill, n honored prticipnt o the Boston Te Prty who reused to chnge the style o his clothing or mnners to it the times, ws depicted in Oliver Wendell Holmes's poem "The Lst Le". Hermn visited him in Boston, nd his ther turned to him in his requent times o inncil need.
Melville's roving disposition nd desire to support himsel independently o mily ssistnce led him to seek work s surveyor on the Erie Cnl. This eort iled, nd his brother helped him get job s "boy"( green hnd) on New York ship bound or Liverpool. He mde the voyge, nd returned on the sme ship. Redburn: His irst Voyge (1849) is prtly bsed on his experiences o this journey.
III、Summry o the novel
Moby-Dick is novel by Hermn Melville, irst published in 1851. It is considered to be one o the Gret mericn Novels nd tresure o world literture. The story tells the dventures o wndering silor Ishmel, nd his voyge on the whleship Pequod, commnded by Cptin hb. Ishmel soon lerns tht hb hs one purpose on this voyge: to seek out Moby Dick, erocious, enigmtic white sperm whle. In previous encounter, the whle destroyed hb's bot nd bit o his leg, which now drives h b to tke rev eng e.
In this book, Moby Dick is the whle’s nme, severl conlicts ppered in the story, the min conlict is the one between the cptin nd the whle clled Moby Dick. The cptin mde his mind to kill the whle in order to tke his revenge, but t lst, the big whle ws the inl winner, he killed ll the people lmost. Besides, nother conlict is tht exist between the cptin nd his silors, they couldn’t work together hrmoniously, the cptin lwys got his silors into embrrssing sitution by tking dvntge o his uthority, which led silors to set their duties side in order to give out their nger, so, they iled to kill Moby Dick t lst.
In Moby-Dick, Melville employs stylized lnguge, symbolism, nd the metphor to explore numerous complex themes. Through the journey o the min chrcters, the concepts o clss nd socil sttus, good nd evil, nd the existence o God re ll exmined, s the min chrcters speculte upon their personl belies nd their plces in the universe. The nrrtor's relections, long with his descriptions o silor's lie bord whling ship, re woven into the nrrtive long with Shkesperen literry devices, such s stge directions, extended soliloquies, nd sides. The book portrys destructive obsession nd monomni, s well s the ssumption o nthropomorphism--projecting humn instincts, chrcteristics nd motivtions onto nimls. Moby Dick is ruthless in ttcking the silors who ttempt to hunt nd kill him, but it is hb who invests Moby Dick's nturl instincts with mlignnt nd evil intentions. In ct, it is not the whle but the crippled hb who lone possesses this chrcteristic.
Moby-Dick hs been clssiied s mericn Romnticism. It ws irst published by Richrd Bentley in London on October 18, 1851, in n expurgted three-volume edition titled The Whle, nd weeks lter s single volume, by New York City publisher Hrper nd Brothers s Moby-Dick; or, The Whle on November 14, 1851. The book initilly received mixed reviews, but Moby-Dick is now considered prt o the Western cnon,nd t the center o the cnon o mericn novels.
IV、The Reltion Between Humn nd Nture （symbolism）
The theme o this novel is very complicted, we cn get dierent themes rom dierent points. The most importnt nd obvious one is the reltionship between humn nd nture, the symbolism illustrtes this point: cptin nd his silors stnd or humn, their behviors nd psychology relect the typicl chrcters o humn while the big whle represent the nture. The conlict between the cptin nd the big whle illustrtes the contrdiction between humn nd nture, which is very typicl symbolism.
Moby Dick is gint lbino sperm whle nd the min ntgonist o the novel. He bit o hb's leg, leving hb to swer revenge. The cetcen lso ttcked the Rchel nd killed the cptin's son. t the end o the story he kills the entire crew o the Pequod, with the exception o Ishmel. The story does not tell whether or not he survives his own
wounds ter tht. lthough he is n integrl prt o the novel, Moby Dick ppers in just three o the 135 chpters nd the reder does not hve ccess to his thoughts nd motivtions. Moby Dick is considered to be symbol o number o things, mong them God, nture, te, the ocen, nd the very universe itsel.
The symbolism o the White Whle is delibertely enigmtic, nd its inscrutbility is deliberte chllenge to the reder. Ishmel describes the whle’s orehed s hvin g wrinkles nd scrs on it tht look like hieroglyphics, nd recounts:
I then, Sir Willim Jones, who red in thirty lnguges, could not red the simplest pesnt’s ce in its proounder nd more subtle menings, how my unlettered Ishme l hope to red the wul Chldee o the Sperm Whle’s brow? I put tht brow beore you. Red it i you c n.
—Moby-Dick, Ch. 79
ll the reder cn know is tht the White Whle symbolizes mny things to vrious chrcters in the novel. It is their personl interprettions o Moby-Dick, in ddition to their individul rumintions on the gold doubloon hb hs niled to the mst to motivte his crew, tht serve s urther clue to their own inner mkeup.。