谈白鲸中的象征主义

安徽农业大学毕业论文（设计）论文题目谈《白鲸》中象征主义运用姓名学号学院专业指导教师职称中国·合肥二零壹壹年五月On The Use of Symbolism in Moby DickThesis submitted to the faculty of School of Foreign Languages, Anhui Agricultural University in partial fulfillment ofThe requirements for the degree ofBachelor of ArtsBy:Supervisor:School of Foreign Languages, AAUMay 2011AcknowledgementsI have eternal gratitude to Ma Wen, my thesis supervisor, for her/his inestimable help and valuable instruction, and to Professor Xu Youjiang for his insightful lectures, which inspire me to compose this dissertation.I also thank those who help me in course of the writing and whose names I can’t list here one by one.Finally, I would also like to acknowledge the continuing support and kindness from my parents. Without their love, I could never have gone this far.AbstractHerman Melville was a famous American novelist in Romantic period，who has written numerous popular works, among which Moby Dick was the most outstanding one. Moby Dick is a novel about the fighting between man and nature. It is famous for symbolism. In this novel, every character, even every object has its symbolic meaning. The use of symbolism makes an artistic effect in this novel and makes the novel world-famous.This paper centers on the use of symbolism in Moby Dick. It gives a brief introduction about the main characters and symbolism, then analyses the symbolic meanings of these characters and objects including the white whale Moby Dick, the captain Ahab, the ship Pequod, the sea Pacific, the voyage for hunting the white whale and the relationship between Ishmeal and Queequeq. After analysis, we will find that this novel is in fact a mini but real society and how skillfully symbolism was used by Melville.Key words: symbolism; nature; characters摘要赫尔曼.麦尔维尔是美国浪漫主义时期的杰出作家。

在他众多的作品中，最最著名的要数《白鲸》了。

这是一部描述人与自然斗争的小说，小说最鲜明的特点就是象征主义。

这部小说中每一个人物,甚至是物体，都有其象征意义。

象征主义手法在小说中营造了艺术气氛，同时也使得《白鲸》闻名世界。

本文主要探讨象征主义在《白鲸》中的运用。

文章首先简要介绍了作品中主要人物和象征主义,接着就文章中主要的人和物进行了象征手法的分析，包括白鲸莫比迪克，船长阿哈伯，船皮盔德号，太平洋，追捕白鲸的旅程以及伊什米尔和奎奎德德关系的象征意义。

通过分析,我们可以发现《白鲸》这部小说就是一个缩小版的真实社会以及麦尔维尔对象征主义手法的出色运用。

关键词：象征主义；自然；角色Table of ContentAcknowledgements (i)Abstract......................................................................................................................... i i 摘要 (iii)I. Introduction of Herman Melville and Moby Dick (1)II. Characters (2)2.1 Ishmael (3)2.2 Ahab (3)2.3 Queequeq (4)2.4 Moby Dick (4)III. Application of Symbolism in Moby Dick (5)3.1 Symbolism (5)3.1.1 The introduction of symbolism (5)3.1.2 The features of symbolism (5)3.2 Symbolism in Moby Dick (6)3.2.1 The white whale--Moby Dick (6)3.2.2 The captain--Ahab (8)3.2.3 The ship--Pequod (8)3.2.4 The sea--Pacific (9)3.2.5 The voyage of hunting for the white whale (9)3.2.6 The relationship between Ishmael and Queequeq (10)IV. The Relationship between Man and Nature ..................................................... .114.1 To Ahab (11)4.2 To Melville (11)V. Conclusion (13)Bibliography (14)I. Introduction to Herman Melville and Moby DickHerman Melville (1819-1891) was a great American writer in Romantic period. He was born in a poor family in New York. But through his continuous effort, he succeeded at last and fortunately he became world-famous. As an outstanding novelist, Melville had his own unique style and view. Moby Dick is Melville's masterpiece. It describes the struggle between human and nature, which is also Melville's constant theme.Educator Zuo stated that Melville held a black view towards the world like the great American writer Hawthorne(Zuo 2006:200). To him, the world is always Godless and purposeless. Man in this university lives a meaningless and futile life(Zuo 2006:340).In his works he profoundly expressed the loss of faith, the sense of futility and meaninglessness which characterize the modern life of the west. This also indicates why Melville's fame is still popular in the present century.Melville is known for his sea stories which include Typee, Omoo, Mardi, and his masterpiece--Moby Dick.So far, Moby Dick is still regarded as the best novel which describes the industry and process of hunting whale. The structure of this novel is simple. The story goes roughly as follows: "Call me Ishmael", the writer begins. Ishmael, feeling depressed, seeks escape through going to sea and at last he landed on a ship, Pequod, the captain of which is Ahab, a man with strong belief and pride. He has only one leg because the other leg was sheared off by a white whale--Moby Dick, in previous voyage. Because of this, Ahab resolves to kill it. Pequod makes a good catch of whales but Ahab refuses to turn back until he can kill his enemy. Eventually the white whale appears,and the Pequod begins its destined fight with it. On the first day the whale overturns a boat, and on the second it swamps another. When the third day comes, Ahab and his crew manage to plunge a harpoon into it, but the whale carries Pequod along with its doom. All on the board of the whaler get drowned, except Ishmael, who survives to tell the tale. At last, Moby Dick disappears and nobody knows where it has gone.II. CharactersThere are several characters in this novel, including Ishmael, the narrator, Ahab, the captain, Queequeq, a prince, and the most important one, Moby Dick. As we know, the greatest success of this novel lies in its perfect use of symbolism. Every character has its unique symbolic meaning. Now, let me make a brief introduction about these main characters.2.1 Ishmael"Call me Ishmael", the novel begins. At the beginning, we have already known him. Ishmael once worked as a schoolmaster. But as a person full of enthusiasm, he wasn't content with his simple and plain life. So he often stopped his work and headed for the sea for relaxation when he felt down. At such time, he worked as a seaman on a ship, to escape from the reality of his hometown, Manhattan, New York. Once he was attracted by a whaling ship because of its dangerous work and interesting seamen on the ship. It is on this ship--Pequod that he went through an adventurous and nervous experience. That is the war between the white whale Moby Dick and the captain of Pequod--Ahab.2.2 AhabAhab was the captain of the ship, Pequod. His strong, brave characteristic mayimpress readers most. When Ishmael saw him first time, he felt that Ahab was so fierce and serious that he was remained of a bronze statue that was tall and wide in form. One of Ahab's legs was made of the ivory of the smooth bone of a whale's jaw. There is an implication here, in fact, Ahab's leg was disabled by a white whale, who, he vowed to kill and at last he was killed by. Educator Liu stated that Ahab is a typical American at Melville’s time(Liu 1995：38).2.3 QueequeqWhen Ishmael first saw Queequeq, he thought that Queequeq was a terrible and peculiar man. He was a son of a king. In order to improve his people's life, he began his life of hunting whales on the sea, because he wanted to know better about the Christian world. After knowing this, Ishmael changed his impression on Queequeq and they became good friends. Later on their way of sea Queequeq even saved Ishmael’s life.2.4 Moby DickMoby Dick is the name of the book. It is also the most important character in this novel. It is a large white whale in the Pacific Ocean. In a battle with Ahab, it sheared off one of Ahab's legs and escaped, thus, Ahab vowed to kill it. In this novel, Moby Dick is a clue, everything happened around it. At last, Moby Dick killed all the seamen on Pequod except Ishmael and disappeared in the wide blue sea.III. Application of Symbolism in Moby Dick3.1 Symbolism3.1.1 The introduction of symbolismSymbolism, the first literary school of Modernism, is the line of demarcation between traditional literature and modern writings. It rose against Realism in France in the mid-19th century, flourished in the 1920s to 1940s in England, the US and other European countries, and has lingered on until the present day. In 1857, Charles Baudelaire, the founder of French symbolism, published The flowers of Evils, the first work of symbolism. Later in the 1880s, symbolism grew into a conscious literary movement with Arther Rimbaud, Paul Verlaine and Stephane Mallarme as the leading advocates.Educatior Zuo expressed that, in general, symbolism is one of the writing skills(Zuo 2006:170). Its goal is to convey elusive illusion and its content is mysticism. What the writer wants to explain is not the realistic objective world, but individual's subjective inward world. The word symbolism comes from the Greek word symbolon.3.1.2 The features of symbolismProfessor Hu and Du has told us that symbolism does not believe in the doctrine of Realism that art presents reality( Hu & Du 1999:28). Professor Liu has said in his book that symbolism sees the immediate, unique, and personal emotional response as the proper subject of art(Liu 1995:60). Since the emotions experienced by a poetin a given moment are unique to that person and that moment are finally both fleeting and incommunicable, the poet is reduced to the use of a complex and highly private kind of symbolization in an effort to give expression to an evanescent and ineffable feeling. The result is a kind of writing consisting of a series of symbols lacking apparent logical relation, which are put together in a pattern characterized by a indefiniteness as great as the indefiniteness of the experience itself and the conscious effort to use words for their evocative musical effect without very much attention to precise meaning.The most famous representatives of symbolism includes the France poet Charles Baudelaire and the Irish poet William Bulter Yeats.3.2 Symbolism in Moby DickMoby Dick describes a story that a ship, which was called Pequod, under the guidance of Captain Ahab, looks for and fights against the white whale Moby Dick. On surface, the novel seems to focus on the hostility between Ahab and Moby Dick. But in fact, it is not simply an adventurous novel which is full of complicated odds and romantic sentiments. The clue which runs through the whole novel is the deep concerns to the fate of human beings. In the novel, the radiance of symbolism shines from the beginning to the end. For example, the sailors on Pequod going nearer and nearer to the whale until they get to death symbolizes the fates of human, nature and universe. The fate is filled with mystery and tragedy. The author just expressed his concerns to human fate through symbolism. Just as I have mentioned, in this novel, every character has its symbolic meaning.3.2.1 The white whale--Moby DickThe most outstanding character in this novel is Moby Dick, which has many deep symbolic meanings. Educator Jin and Qin's book told us that some western criticsthink that the white whale is a symbol of evil(Jin & Qin 1997:46）. Indeed, in the novel the whale is described as a destructive, hostile and mysterious being which is difficult to conquer. But such evil is not just totally in form. So, to some degree, the white whale can be viewed as the huge mode of production of capitalism, the strength in the manufacturing process which is opposed to the productivity. The author makes a mysterious atmosphere in the novel and expresses human's incapability in face to the fate. On one hand, the novel reflects the author's own anxiety and worry to the development of capitalism productivity and the contradictory in the new society. On the other hand, the author also shows his sympathy and concerns to the fate and situations of people at this time.To the author Melville, the white whale also stands for the mysterious nature, especially the ocean. Another theme of Melville's description is the relationship between man and nature. He thought that there is an invisible power which can control man's fate, and this power is from nature. In the novel, such mystery is expressed by the description of the change of the sea. Sometimes the sea is quiet and wild, giving people beautiful images, while other times it even lifts huge billows, making people dizzy. Man doesn't have strength to win against nature because of its unfathomable changes, which destined man's failure of fighting against nature.Besides, the author has purpose to choose a "white" whale because the color white also has its symbolic meaning. White means purity and innocence. From this we can see, the author thought that nature is quiet and friendly, only if man could understand his coexistence with nature and be in harmony with nature. Otherwise, man will be dying. In the novel, the fight between sailors and whale is the fight between man and nature. The white whale has lived a happy life in the nature and never deliberately gone near to man. But the sailors want to conquer and kill it while at last be killed by it. At the same time, white symbolizes the mystery of the universe. To human, the secret of universe is white; people could see nothing except the white. This is one of the author's permissive opinions: man is so little in front of the strong nature that he could never know about the secret of the nature.3.2.2 The captain--AhabAnother important character in the novel is the captain of the ship Poquod--Ahab. His only purpose is to kill Moby Dick; even he has already known that there would be numerous dangers. In fact, in their voyage, Ahab has many chances to turn back but every time he refuses firmly. He has been told more than once that Moby Dick has super nature strength and the only result of fighting against it is death. But he never adopts those ideas until the last day comes with the final struggle. One sailor tries to persuade him to give up, but he still indicates that all has been destined and can not be altered. Ahab symbolizes the vicious side of man's inherent quality. His hostility towards Moby Dick is man's enmity towards nature. He and his sailors' crazy seek for the white whale just means people whose state is out of control. When man is in such state, he will be controlled by the vicious side and destroy others, even himself. Ahab is in this state and he guides his sailors to rush to the quiet sea and disturb the peace life of the whale, only leads to his own extermination.3.2.3 The ship--PequodObviously, the misery fate of the ship Pequod and all the sailors on it has been destined from the beginning. Firstly, the name "Pequod" itself symbolizes death. Pequod is the name of an American Indian tribe. After American was dominated by the white, a lot of native Indian tribes were killed by the white in their conflicts, and Pequod was one of the tribe. Melville used it to name this ship just to imply its fate. Secondly, the narrator of this novel Ishmael is the only survivor of the ship. His description is a restatement of this voyage. Just as Ishmael himself said: "the sailors have made great efforts to go through the wide sea only to run to their death. They searched and pursued, only to look for the thing that finally destroyed them." The author arranged the only survivor to tell the story also indicates the tragedy of the ship.3.2.4 The sea--PacificThis voyage happened in the Pacific Ocean. After reading the whole novel, we can feel a mysterious atmosphere in the story, partly because of the description of the sea. The sea symbolizes the secret strength of nature. Simply speaking, it is the symbol of nature. The author deliberately described the sea under different situations: sometimes it is peaceful and quiet, makes people feel comfortable, while sometimes it is noisy and dangerous and makes people feel terrible. No matter it is sunny daytime or star-shinned night, the ocean always sets out a huge destructive power and strange danger. When Ahab wanted to fight with the whale living in the sea, his only result is death. Because anyone who tries to break the rules of nature will be broken by himself at last.3.2.5 The voyage of hunting for the white whaleThe voyage itself symbolizes searching and finding, is the pursuit for the final truth of human life. The narrator Ishmael is an outstanding example. He escaped from his living environment and got on the Pequod just wanted to find a new life that could make him feel happy and fulfilled. He dissatisfied with the reality because it let him feel empty, lifeless and meaningless. He was controlled by a feeling of loneliness and estrangement, which is between man and man, nature and soul, which is one of the themes of the novel. The author thought that in 19th century, American was under the control of such loneliness. That is why Ishmael got on the Pequod with the dream of searching for truth and new life. In the voyage, he gradually knew about the importance of love and friendship. He has learned the value of acceptance, which the author thought is the guarantee of human life. This point we can see from the change of Ishmael’s attitude toward Queequeq. When he first got on the ship and was arranged to sleep with Queequeq, he was very afraid because he felt that this black man must eat human. But with deep contracts with Queequeq, he found that this black man was quite lovely. His change towards Queequeq at first came from Queequeq'sfirm appearance, which impressed him deeply. Later Queequeq's behavior of saving a sailor established his heroic image in Ishmael’s heart. So this voyage symbolizes Ishmael’s search for knowledge and life value, so does the American people. This ship is a soul ship of American people, and its destruction stands for Melville's pemissive opinion to life and the world.3.2.6 The relationship between Ishmael and QueequeqQueequeq, who came from an uncivilized society, was the first man that Ishmael met in his adventure. He was the son of a chief of a tribe. He represented the ancient society. He learned the knowledge of civilization from those passing ship then he began to imagine and yearn for the civilized world. To search for happiness and joy for his people, he landed on a ship whose purpose was to search for whale. However, in the process of touching civilization, to his disappointment, he found hypocrisy and fraud from those so-called civilized man. The contrast of the attitude of Queequeq towards the western world before and after he got on the ship was a bitter taunt from Melville. Melville used the form of words to criticize and reconsider the western civilization which centered on materialism. As the novel went on, Queequeq's sublime figure and charming personality struck Ishmael’s heart deeply. When the ship, the whale and the other sailors all died, Ishmael was saved by Queequeq's coffin, which symbolized the remains of the ancient culture. This expressed Melville's thought that western civilization which centered on materialism must resort to ancient mental culture of human. At the same time, Melville showed his wish to the development of western culture.IV. The Relationship between Man and NatureThe relationship between man and nature is so hot a topic that even today many people always discuss. It is also one of the main topic of this novel. In Moby Dick, different people hold various opinions about this question. Now, I want to analyse Ahab and Melville's ideas on this question.4.1 To AhabIn this novel, Ahab represents a group of people who believe that man is superior to nature and man can defeat nature by his intelligence and strength. At the urge of the profit from hunting whale and enmity to Moby Dick, he vowed to kill it. On his voyage, he tried his best to search Moby Dick and at the last he found it, a fight began between all the sailors and Moby Dick. Unfortunately, man's strength is far less than nature, all the sailors on broad were killed by Moby Dick.Ahab only had one idea, that is to control Moby Dick, control the nature. So he pursued his dream in spite of any cost. He was even sure that he can kill the white whale. In his mind, man is the master of the nature. However, he was totally wrong. If man always do something bad to nature and want to control, he would be punished by nature in the future.4.2 To MelvilleAfter analyzing Moby Dick, it is simple to find Melville's view towards therelationship between nature and man. That is, nature is superior to man. Any action that means to change or destroy nature will be punished at last. To some degree, I agree with this opinion.In the novel, Ahab always wanted to kill the white whale, which symbolizes people who think that human is superior to nature and want to conquer nature. In fact, most people are "Ahab". They abuse all the resources on the earth and never consider the consequence. For instance, actions like cutting innumerable trees, killing various animals and polluting air and water with poisonous chemicals are all bad to nature. In return, earthquake, mud-rock flow and extreme weather happen more and more frequently. This proves Melville's idea--in the fighting against nature, man will kill himself, just like Ahab and all the sailors on the ship of Pequod.From my point of view, man should be in harmony with nature. Human beings must rely on nature to get necessities of living, at the same time, nature needs man's recreation to become more regular and beautiful. Although in the process, pollution and damage are inevitable. Human should take every measure to protect nature. Only in this way could man and nature stay in harmony. Like Moby Dick, if the white whale hadn't been searched and killed by Ahab, he and his sailors would not have died.V. ConclusionMoby Dick is full of metaphorical symbolism and the courage to explore the unknown world. It illustrates Melville's black view. Man must place himself at the mercy of nature. He can not try to seek power stronger than nature. If he does so as Ahab does, he will go to doom.Annette T.Rubinstein has said that Moby Dick was called "the encyclopedia of hunting whale"(Annette T.Rubinstein 1988:50). In terms of its literary value, it was also regarded as "American Hamlet". Besides Frankler's Bears, Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, these three books are called Three Epics of Animals in American Literature. Some commentators think that Moby Dick is "the perfect expression of American imagination". At the same time, this book is thought to be part of drama, part of adventurous stories, part of philosophical discussion, part of scientific research and part of epic.Moby Dick was also called “the labyrinth of symbolism”. Melville successfully used those images to express his deep consideration towards philosophy, society and religion. Melville created a world full of implication. He used acute sight and deep thought to reconsider the relationship between man and nature and the contrast between people and the capitalism, reflecting deep philosophical theory and political content, this is why Moby Dick is still popular after 150 years.The relationship between man and nature is a eternal theme since the beginning of human history. No matter what opinions different people may hold, the only principle is the same, that is , we human should protect nature and be in hamony with nature. 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