人性与自然——对《白鲸》的分析英文论文

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4.2.3 Human beings’ suspicion and nature

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4.3 Factors influencing the relationship

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5. Conclusion ......................... .................................................. ......................................

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Bibliography .. .................................................. .................................................. ..........

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Acknowledgements

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1. Introduction

Herman

Melville

is

one

of

the

greatest

American

literary

naturalists,

who

was

born in a rich family in New York in 1819. After his father died in debt, 11-year-old

Melville had to begin to work early. He once worked as a bank clerk, a salesman, a

schoolteacher, but all these failed to offer him a decent livelihood. Then he went to

sea at twenty, which provided him rich experiences, especially his sailing experiences

that furnished him with abundant material for fiction. For a period of some eight years

after his return from the sea, he was at most prolific. Melville composes lots of works,

such as

Typee

(1846),

Omoo

(1847),

Mardi

(1849),

Redburn

(1849),

White Jacket

(1850),

Moby-Dick

(1851)

etc.

Among

his

works,

Moby-Dick

is

one

of

the

greatest

masterpieces of the world.

Moby-Dick

is a very famous novel showing that Ahab, the captain of the Pequod,

leads the crew to pursue and kill the white whale. It

is also the story of the struggle

and

harmony

of

nature

and

human

beings,

reflecting

the

complex

relationship

between humanity and nature. The others also have touched upon the relationship. For

example, Tian Fang, the instructor of Wuhan University of Science and Technology,

writes one paper

–

Melville’

s opinion on the relationship between human beings and

nature

.

Wang

Yiqun

also

writes

an

article

entitled

On

Humanistic

Thinking

In

Moby-Dick

.

In

the

novel,

the

purpose

of

analyzing

humanity

and

nature

is

to

research

the

relationship

between

humanity

and

nature.

The

analysis

of

the

relationship

in

the

novel

reflects

human

’

s

evil

and

tolerance

in

the

realistic

society.

According

to

the

analysis,

we

can

find

the

positive

side

of

humanity

to

harmoniously

coexist

with

nature.

2. An Analysis of nature

Nature means all the things in the universe that are not made by human beings,

such

as

animals,

plants,

mountains,

and

rivers.

The

analysis

of

nature

in

the

thesis

mainly focuses on the white whale

—

Moby Dick, the ocean and the ship

—

the Pequod.

2.1 The white whale

—

Moby Dick

Moby Dick is also called the white whale literally because it possesses a special

white back and a huge white head. It is so noble and tranquil that it freely swims in the

ocean

and

shares

the

sunshine.

It

has

blended

into

nature

admirably

and

becomes

a

typical

representation

of

nature.

However,

Moby

Dick

is

a

dreadful

whale.

It

is

a

white-headed whale with three holes punctured in its starboard fluke, which reminds

people of fearsomeness and evil. It represents the devil of nature and receives God’s

order

to

fight

against

those

whalemen

who

desire

to

chase,

even

kill

it.

Those

1

whalemen

almost

reach

a

co

ncensus

on

Moby

Dick’s

destruction.

They

think

that

Moby Dick is more curious than other whales living in the ocean. They also believe

that once they meet with Moby Dick and try to attack it, they will suffer from such

harmful calamity in these assaults which may cause sprained wrists and ankles, broken

limbs, or devouring amputations, even death. Moby Dick is also clever. It can estimate

accurately what is the best time to assault human beings successfully. Therefore, Moby

Dick is the scared, mysterious, invincible and intellectural embodiment of the ocean in

nature.

2.2 The ocean

Our first impression of the ocean is that it is so vast and endless. When sailing in

the sea, we feel that we are so tiny. We adore the broad attitude of the ocean with awe

from the bottom of our hearts.

But the cunning, fierce and unmerciful features of the ocean are substantial. It is

cunning because it knows how its dreaded creatures glide under water, unapparent for

the most part, and treacherously hide beneath the loveliest tints of azure. Indeed, in

order to escape from the human’s chase and protect themselves, the marine creatures

have to seek a shelter. The best shelter is beneath the ocean where they can hide. If

human beings

desire to

gain the things they

need, they must

pay

for

these, such as

hard work, much energy, etc. People should know that seeking the necessary things in

the ocean is lengthy and hard work. Meanwhile, the scene of cannibalism and the rule

that strong animals prey upon weaker ones hide subtly in the ocean. This kind of feint

induces us to think that the ocean is so peaceful, quiet and divine. However, it is really

fierce and unmerciful because it dashes the mightiest

whales against the

rocks, and

leaves the whales’ corpses there side by side with the sp

lit wrecks of ships. The power

of the ocean shows that nature is inviolable and unconquered. But the power is at the

cost

of destroying the ships

randomly

and killing the marine animals.

Therefore, in

the novel, the author wants to show that the ocean is cunning, fierce and unmerciful.

2.3 The Pequod

From the frame of the novel, the Pequod is a high generalization and an epitome

of the human beings

’ society. The firm body and the advanced equipments bestow this

ship the strong power. The moment it sails in the ocean, it begins its provocation and

invasion

to

the

divine

sea.

In

fact

it

is

the

delegate

of

destroying

nature.

The

whalemen on the ship are connived to pursue and kill the whales. So the Pequod is a

direct

participator.

On

the

other

hand,

in

this

small

ship,

there

is

a

sharply

divided

hierarchy. Captain Ahab is the sovereign lord and the sailors are only the slaves in the

lower end of the social ladder at the outset. When they set foot on this ship, they have

lost their human rights. They have to obe

y Ahab’s order so that they devote their own

2

lives

to

the

whale

fishery

because

their

bodies

and

soul

belong

to

the

captain.

An

unlucky encounter of the Pequod actually reflects the tragic fate of the whalemen.

3. An analysis of humanity

Generally

speaking,

humanity

involves

two

aspects:

one

negative

side

of

humanity, such as human beings’ suspicion, cruel and evil, etc; one positive side, such

as human beings’ tolerance, kindness, pity, etc. Humanity not only appears between

human beings and nature, but al

so in the human’s own society. In the novel, human

beings’

evil

is

the

typical

negative

side

of

humanity

and

human’s

tolerance

is

the

typical positive side.

3.1 Human beings

’

evil

Captain

Ahab

is

the

most

typical

representative

of

the

wicked

quality

in

this

novel.

His

name, Ahab,

has

an obvious symbolism.

In the Bible,

Ahab is a wicked

king from Israel. He introduces Paganism to his own country. So we can absolutely

find that Ahab’

s

archetype in the Bible is so wicked. In

Moby- Dick

, Ahab’s wicked

quality

is

also

showed

clearly.

In

the

course

of

whaling,

he

encounters

a

cachalot

called Moby Dick. When he chases the white whale with his sailors, he suffers a great

blow. The white whale devours his leg cruelly. However he makes use of the sperm’s

jawbone

to

burnish

an

artificial

leg.

Ahab

is

hostile

to

nature

after

he

becomes

handicapped from the action of burnishing the artificial leg. He concentrates hatred on

Moby Dick. To achieve his purpose of finding and killing Moby Dick, he persists in

setting

sail

with

out

considering

the

stockholders’

benefit

of

the

Pequod.

When

he

meets

the

captains

of

the

other

boats

sailing

on

the

sea,

he

refuses

to

accept

their

suggestions

that

he

should

turn

back.

He

solely

wants

to

chase

and

kill

the

white

whale. At that time, Ahab has cherished a wild hatred against the whale. Actually the

white whale not

only brings

him bodily woes, but

also

the intellectual and spiritual

exasperations. Therefore the white whale becomes the monomaniac incarnation of all

those malicious agencies. He crazily chases Moby Dick in order to comfort his injured

heart and smooth his wounds. His ruinous deed has pushed him into the abyss of the

wicked quality.

Ahab doesn’t really care about his crew but ask them to work for him with the

temptation of benefits. He prefers to take advantage of them to achieve his dream of

chasing and killing Moby Dick.

He equates crew’s lives with money in his hand. In

his mind, he regards their lives as the slaves and the tools of revenging Moby Dick.

This kind of internal s

pirit of Ahab’s trampling their lives and controlling their soul

shows obviously that his evil in his inner heart has absolutely exposed his real natural

instincts.

3

3.2 Human beings

’

tolerance

Human

beings’

tolerance

is

manifested

in

two

aspects:

human’s

tolerance

to

nature and

human’s tolerance

to themselves. First, we need to simply know tolerance

to

nature.

In

chapter

100,

the

captain

of

the

Samuel

Enderby

says

that

he

will

not

struggle with Moby Dick any longer after his arm is bitten off by the white whale. He

even

warns

Captain

Ahab

not

to

get

a

rise

out

of

Moby

Dick.

His

concession

on

escaping

from

the

disaster

shows

human’s

tolerant

attitude

to

nature.

Th

is

kind

of

attitude

roots

in

the

instinct

of

human’s

self

-protection.

The

captain

of

Samuel

Enderby

knows

that

if

he

doesn’t

provoke

nature,

his

life

affirmatively

will

not

be

threatened.

This

is

the

most

original

way

for

human

beings

to

deal

with

the

relationship between human and nature.

In

terms

of

interpersonal

tolerance,

Melville

adequately

expresses

his

thought

and opinion. In that period, the white men always discriminate the black men in the

American society. But Melville shows the deep friendship between the white man

—

Ishmael

and

the

cannibal< /p>

—

Queequeg.

We

may

think

that

this

kind

of

friendship

shows

that

the

interpersonal

relationship

is

so

equal.

In

the

beginning,

Ishmael

considers

that

Queequeg

is

a

cannibal,

a

devil

of

killing

others.

But

after

noticing

Queequeg’s kind and polite action, he changes his opinion and starts to give a high

praise for Queequeg.

In

fact,

when

Ishmael

eliminates

his

prejudice, he

admits

that

Queequeg

has

the

equal

right

with

him.

In

Ishmael’s

mind,

he

has

broken

th

e

interpersonal

discrimination.

The

interpersonal

equal

relationship

is

one

kind

of

tolerance

because

once

we

treat

anyone

equally,

we

will

remove

interpersonal

estrangement and we can also excuse them although they made the mistake before.

4. An analysis of the relationship between humanity and

nature

The

relationship

between

humanity

and

nature

is

quite

complicated.

When

human beings invade nature with hatred, they will suffer from retaliation of nature. In

the

novel,

Ahab’s

hatred

to

the

white

whale

brings

its

revenge.

Moreover,

when

human suspect nature and begin to invade nature, they will be punished by nature. In

the novel, when Ahab is still persisting in fighting against nature, he will suffer from

punishment of nature. But human also know how to tolerant nature. When human’s

tolerance begins to emerge, they will keep a harmonious relationship with nature.

4.1 The relationship between humanity and nature in the 19

th

century

In

the

19th

century,

American

relying

on

the

advanced

equipments

and

ships

became the overlord of the whale fishery. They captured various whales, extracted the

sperm oil, cut off the whalemeat and fished out the costly ambergris. They desired to

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