-
毕
业
论
文
论
文
题
论《白鲸》中的生态启示
目:
Ecological Enlightenment in
Moby-Dick
Student: Jiang Nana
Supervisor: Ma Xiaoying
Department of Foreign
Languages
Tangshan College
June, 2014
论《白鲸》中的生态启示
摘
要
赫尔曼·麦尔维尔是十九世纪美国
最伟大的作家之一
,
被誉为“最伟大的海
洋预言家和诗人”
。他的作品以对环境的详细描写及人与自然关系的精辟探讨而
著名
,
其中《白鲸》更是被毛姆列为当今世界
最伟大的十部作品之一。在这部小
说中
,
麦尔维尔将笔触从描绘自然的美丽和奥妙转向抨击工业革命和人类文明对
大自然的伤害
。
通过这部作品
,
麦尔维尔意在告诫人
类如果继续对自然施以暴行
,
那么人类最终将如捕鲸船“皮阔德
”一样走向灭亡。
“生态批评”
的概
念出现于
1978
年
,
由鲁克尔特在他的文章
《文学与生态学
:
一次生态批评实验》中首次提出。生态批评旨在用文学研究的方法
,
对文本进行
解读
,
揭示
生态危机的本源
,
唤醒人类的生态意识。
论文试图从生态批评的视角
,
探讨
《白鲸》
蕴含的生态启示
,
重申人与自然之
间维持平衡关系的重要性。虽然《白鲸》这部作品讲述了一
个悲剧故事
,
但它仍
然给人类传递了希
望
,
作为故事唯一幸存者的以实玛利给人类带来了含有希望之<
/p>
光的警示:人类应该重视人与自然关系的和谐
,
< br>从现在起重建人与自然之间的平
衡关系
,
这是人类生存和发展的必经之路。
关键词
:白鲸;生态启示;生态批评理论
Ecological Implications in
Moby-Dick
Abstract
Herman
Melville
is
one
of
the
greatest
American
writers
in
the
19th
century,
who has been called
the greatest marine poet and prophet. His works
are famous for
the detailed description
of the environment and incisive discussion on the
relationship
between man and nature.
His work
Moby-Dick
is listed
by Maugham as one of the ten
greatest
works
in
the
world.
In
the
novel,
Melville
not
only
depicted
the
natural
beauty
and
mystery
but
also
attacked
the
industrial
revolution
and
human
civilization
’
s
exploitation on nature. Melville warned us if we
human continued doing
something evil to
nature, we would be destroyed like Pequod.
The
concept
of
p>
“
ecocriticism
”
was
first
put
forward
in
1978
by
William
Rueckert in his article
“
Literature and Ecology: An
Experiment in Ecocriticism
”
.
This
article
aims
to
interpret
the
text
by
the
method
of
literature
research
to
reveal
the
source of ecological crisis and awaken
the ecological consciousness of human beings.
This thesis aims to explore the
ecological enlightenment in
Moby-Dick
from the
perspective of
ecocriticism. It reiterates the importance of the
balance between human
and nature, and
also points out that although
Moby-
Dick
tells us a tragic story, it still
brings hope to human beings. As the
sole survivor, Ishmael brings the light of hope to
human
which
warns
that
we
human
beings
should
attach
importance
to
the
harmonious
relationship
between
man
and
nature,
and
rebuild
the
balance
between
human and nature from
now
on. And this
is
the only
road to
human
’
s survival
and
development.
Key words
:
Moby-
Dick
; Ecological Implications;
Ecocriticism
Contents
Introduction
.
...
..................................................
..................................................
..........
1
Part
I Different Ecological Views Presented in
Moby-Dick
.
.....................................
3
1.1 Ahab:
revenge on nature
.
.........
..................................................
.......................................
3
1.2 Starbuck:
profit-seeking from nature
.
..................................................
...........................
4
1.3 Ishmael:
appreciation of nature
.
....
..................................................
................................
6
Part II
Different Fates Resulted from Different Ecological
Views
..........................
8
2.1
Pequod
’
s destruction
.
..................................
..................................................
....................
8
2.2 Ishmael
’
s
lucky survival ...................................
..................................................
..............
8
Part III Modern Enlightenment of
Moby-Dick
..................
.....................................
1
0
3.1
Ecological enlightenment
.
..
..................................................
...........................................
1
0
3.2
Practical significance ...........................
..................................................
.........................
11
Conclusion ............................
..................................................
....................................
1
4
Acknowledgements ......................
..................................................
............................
1
5
Notes
......................
..................................................
..................................................
..
1
6
Bibliography ..........................
..................................................
...................................
1
7
Introduction
Herman Melville was an American
novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet.
His first two books gained much
attention, though they were not bestsellers, and
his
popularity declined precipitously
only a few years later. By the time of his death
he
had
been
almost
completely
forgotten,
but
his
longest
novel,
Moby-Dick
,
largely
considered a failure
during his lifetime, and most responsible for
Melville's fall from
favor with the
reading public, was rediscovered in the 20th
century as one of the chief
literary
masterpieces of both American and world
literature.
Moby-Dick
or
The Whale
(1851) is the
sixth book by American writer Herman
Melville. The work is an epic sea story
of Captain Ahab
’
s voyage in
pursuit of Moby
Dick, a great white
whale. D.H. Lawrence called it the greatest book
of the sea ever
written.
Jorge
Luis
Borges
praised
that
Moby-Dick
abounded
with
unforgettable
phrases.
Today it is
considered as
one of the Great
American Novels
and a leading
work of
American Romanticism.
Critics have long
tried to reveal its profound connotation from
different angles
such
as
religion,
race,
colonialism.
Until
the
20th
century,
with
the
deterioration
of
ecological
environment,
ecocriticism
appeared
as
a
new
perspective.
Abroad,
some
scholars
began
research
on
the
relationship
between
man
and
nature
in
Moby-
Dick.
For
example,
in
the
book
Literary
Criticism
in
the
19th
Century
written
by
Harris,
Fred
Cajun
thought
that
the
European
traditional
idea
“
beings
sequence
”
before
Copernicus times
influenced
people in
Melville
’
s age to ponder on
the relationship
between
man
and
nature.
Other
critics
tried
to
study
the
relationship
between
Melville's view of nature and
Emerson
’
s. For example, John
B. Williams in his book
the
white
flame:
Emerson's
influence
on
Melville
pointed
out
that
Emerson
’
s
transcendentalist thoughts had
important influence on Melville's view of nature.
At
home,
many
scholars
also
began
to
study
Moby-Dick
from
the
angle
of
ecology.
In
the
article
“
Moby-
Dick
:
the
tragic
prophesy
of
the
relationship
between
man
and
nature
”
,
Mr.
Yue
Qingyun
pointed
out
that
in
Moby-Dick
,
the
author
pondered
on
the
relationship
between
human
and
nature
from
three
aspects
and
warned human with a tragic end: the
result of man
’
s hatred to
nature is doomed to be
an
irreparable
tragedy.
Mr
Zou
Yugang
,
in
his
article
“
Ecological
Interpretation
of
Moby-Dick
”
said
that
Moby-
Dick
shows
its
readers
a
dream-
like
ecological
system.
Conqueror
Ahab
and
explorer
Ishmael,
in
their
own
unique
ways,
interacted
with
Moby Dick on behalf of the non-human
members. With symbolism, through
Ahab
’
s
tragic ending and
Ishmael
’
s survival, Melville
expressed a kind of modern ecological
view ahead of his times: man should
coexist with nature harmoniously.
This
thesis
aims
to
analyze the ecological
implications of
Moby-Dick
from the
perspective of
ecocriticism. It reiterates the importance of the
balance between human
and nature and
calls on people to protect nature.
Part I Different Ecological Views
Presented in
Moby-Dick
Moby-Dick
reflects people's different understanding of
nature in the 19th century
and
shows
multi-dimensional
perspectives
of
the
relationship
between
man
and
nature.
1.1 Ahab:
revenge on nature
Ahab is the Captain
of the ship Pequod, who have sailed on the sea for
nearly
forty
years,
catching
whales
and
surviving
in
the
fights
with
the
storm
in
countless
times.
Before
he
came
to
the
stage,
the
shipowner
told
us
that
when
they
met
a
typhoon in the sea of
Japan, it was Ahab who led the crew escaped
unhurt, which let
the
readers
learn
Ahab’s
courage
and
ability.
But
as
a
very
common
accident
of
whaling,
Ahab
was
bitten
off
a
leg
by
a
sperm
whale,
and
more
importantly,
this
accident caused a great change in his
deep heart. Afterwards his only driving force out
to sea was to persue the whale and kill
it. In his eyes, the white whale was not only the
enemy of his body but also the foe of
his spirit. With a determination to revenge, he
started a three-year hunting trip,
which was also a three-year destruction of nature.
To
satisfy his own lust for revenge,
Ahab put control on other crew members. Eventually
the ship sank and all the crew died
except Ishmael.
“Ahab”
is one prototype from
the old testament,
as the king of
Israel, who did
something
considered
evil
by
God.
He
believed
in
the
other
idols,
and
committed
interracial
marriage.
What
’
s
more,
he
was
egged
on
by
the
queen
Jezebel
to
kill
Naboth,
and took his grapes garden. He refused to listen
to the prediction and warning
of the
prophet, repeatedly ignoring the redemption God
gave him. He was an evil king
in
god's
sight,
a
heinous
person.
Eventually
when
he
fought
with
the
Jewish
king
Jehoshaphat, he was shot to death, and
to fulfill the prophecy of god, his blood was
licked up by the dogs.
In
the novel, captain Ahab is also an imperial figure
called by people a king of
the sea. As
a captain, he is as diplomatic and competent as
the king Ahab. He knew
that people were
greedy in characteristics and he took the
advantage to buy the soul of
the crew
with a Spanish coin. He made passionate speech,
making his hatred of the
white whale
become the hatred of the other members of the
ship. We can also learn
from mouth to
mouth that Ahab is a man of courage. Although more
than 40 years of
sailing experience
takes away his leg, he is still able to get the
trust of the owner as a
captain.
Captain Peleg even described him as a God-like
person. At the same time, he
is
arrogant in personality like the King Ahab,
committing something evil regardless
god's exhortations. He not
only held contempt for the people around, claiming
to be
the master of their soul, but
also rebelled against god to kill the white whale.
In the
Bible, although the great white
whale is a demonic beast, it is also a proud
creation of
God and symbolizes
God
’
s divine power. In the
Bible, God also sends the big fish as
a
messenger to punish those who disrespect him. In
Moby-Dick
, the priest
mentioned
a
will of god. A
whale is no doubt a messenger sent by God to
enforce his law on earth.
So Ahab
revolts against God by pursuing and killing the
white whale. In his pursuit of
Moby
Dick, Ahab was continuously warned by God through
the sun, lightning, flame,
birds and
other natural objects and natural landscapes but
he turned a deaf ear to all
these and
persisted in killing the white whale, which
eventually led to the tragedy of
the
whole vessel.
To Ahab, the only purpose
to the sea was for revenge. The white whale bitted
off
one of his legs, and
what
’
s more, his dignity as
human. So Ahab regarded the whale
as
not only the enemy of his body but also the foe of
his spirit.
“Aye,
a
ye!
it
was
that
accursed
white
whale
that
razeed
me;
made
a
poor
pegging
lubber
of
me
for
ever
and
a
day!”
Then
tossing
both
arms,
with
measureless imprecations he shouted
out: “Aye, aye! and I'll chase him round
Good
Hope,
and
round
the
Horn,
and
round
the
Norway
Maelstrom,
and
round
perdition's
flames
before
I
give
him
up.
And
this
is
what
ye
have
shipped
for, men! to chase that white whale on both sides
of land, and over
all sides of earth,
till he spouts black blood and rolls fin
out.”
[1]
With such a crazy motivation, Ahab went
out to sea. He didn't realize that Moby
Dick
’
s attack was
out of instinct to survive, not its evil soul. He
wrongly regarded its
attack as a kind
of shame. As khan on the sea, Ahab, who had
dominated the sea for
forty years,
could not accept this kind of whaling failure. In
his view, man held the
position as
master of the whole universe while Moby Dick
discomfited his position.
This frenzy
of revenge tortured Ahab and made his eyes stare
at his target even when
he was
sleeping. As Conrad said:
“What makes
mankind tragic is not that they are the
victims
of
nature,
it
is
that
they
are
conscious
of
it”
.
[2]
Ahab
recognized
he
was
a
victim
of
the
white
whale
representing
nature
and
then
with
anger,
he
hoped
to
achieve
the
purpose
of
conquering
nature
through
hunting
Moby
Dick,
which
was
doomed to be a tragedy.
1.2 Starbuck: profit-seeking from
nature
Captain Ahab,
regardless of the interests of
the
shipowner
and the safety of the
crew, wanted to chase and kill Moby
Dick to revenge for himself. He was governed
by
Satan and
became a
madman who
completely
lost
his
calmness
as a captain. At
this
moment,
the
ship
’
s
daily
affairs
were
in
the
charge
of
the
whaling
ship's
chief
officer
Starbuck.
Starbuck
was
the
first
who
dare
to
come
out
against
Ahab
on
his
revenge
plan.
Unlike
crazy
Ahab,
Starbuck
is
very
rational
and
prudent.
As
to
whaling life, he always said
“
I will have no man in my
boat
who is not afraid of a
whale
”
.
[3]
Because
Starbuck
knew
very
well
that
it
was
more
dangerous
to
keep
company with a fearless
person than with a coward. In Starbuck's view, he
was not
the crusading
warrior
who pursued danger.
He
knew clearly that
“
I
am here in
this
critical ocean to kill
whales for my living, and not to be killed by them
for theirs
”
.
[4]
p>
In such a dangerous industry
as whaling, Starbuck kept a calm mind, knowing
that his
life was far more important
than catching a whale and to whale was for the
sake of his
own survival, for earning a
living, not for some worthless reputation. His
coming to
whale was driven by economic
interests, not revenge for his commander. As for
his
father
and
brother
’
s
death,
he
could
remain
indifferent.
He
took
it
as
the
fate
of
whaling people which they
must bear. Maybe someday he himself would also
fall into
the same fate as his father
and brother for people have to pay for what they
have done
sooner or later. If we
compare the whaling purposes of Ahab and Starbuck,
we can see
that Ahab regarded himself
as a
“
king
”
above the sea and when he was attacked by
the white whale he felt that his honor
as a king was disrespected and encroached while
Starbuck took all the
whale
’
s behavior including
its attack on human as necessary to
get
its
survival.
It
attacked
people
out
of
instinct.
To
revenge
on
its
attack
was
certainly
unreasonable.
So after he knew the real
purpose of Ahab he said
to
Ahab
“
Vengeance
on
a
dumb
brute!
That
simply
smote
thee
from
blindest
instinct!
Madness! To be
enraged with a dumb thing, Captain Ahab, seems
blasphemous.
”
[5]
Melville created
Moby-Dick
in the 1860s when
America's industrial capitalism
achieved its rapid development and
whaling was one of the most important economic
sources of income. The rapid
development of whaling resulted in the modern
people
’
s
desire
inflation. All
came from
whaling,
such
as
the decorations on pequod, the oil
people
used
for
light,
the
oil
king
and
queen
used
for
their
crowning,
and
the
ambergris used by Mr., Mrs. and Miss.
Whaling industry had brought the money and
some prosperity of the port.
People got great
satisfaction from the development of whaling which
also made
people's
desire
infinitely
expand.
people
continuously
expanded
the
scale
of
their
plundering
on
the
sea.
And
America
was
undoubtedly
the
most
dramatic
for
its
whaling
industry. The character of Starbuck was one common
figure in that time who
went out to sea
for economic profit.
In
chapter
36,
after
Ahab
declared
his
revenge
plan
to
the
crew
Starbuck
put
forward two opposing
views. First, from the perspective of material
interests, he said
to
Ahab
“
I
came
here
to
hunt
whales,
not
my
commander
’
s
vengeance.
How
many
barrels will thy
vengeance yield thee even if thou gettest it,
Captain Ahab? it will not
fetch
thee
much
in
our
Nantucket
mar
ket.
”
[6
]
By
these
words,
Starbuck
pointed
out
that revenge on the
white whale could not get the corresponding
economic interests.
Second,
due
to
his
obedience
and
submission
to
nature,
he
thought
revenge
on
the
white
whale was blasphemous, saying that
“
to be enraged with a dumb
thing, Captain
Ahab, seems
blasphemous!
”
[7]
He held ambivalence towards
Ahab
’
s revenge plan. On
one hand, he was a Christian and should
obey god and nature. On the other hand, he
had deep sympathy on
Ahab
’
s disaster and had
nothing to do with the evil thing Ahab
did. As Ahab
’
s
revenge desire became more and more intense, the
struggle between
Ahab
and
Starbuck
was
becoming
more
and
more
fierce.
Starbuck,
from
the
perspective of economic
interests, gave some reasonable advices for many
times but
finally he gave up before
Ahab.
1.3 Ishmael:
appreciation of nature
Ishmael, in the
first person, reviewed this whaling process. In
addition, he is also
the
protagonist
of
the
novel,
a
common
sailor
on
whaling
ship.
During
this
voyage
Ishmael had been
exploring the relationship between human and
nature. Unlike Ahab
and
Starbuck
who
could
only
see
the
opposition
between
man
and
nature,
Ishmael
respected and appreciated nature and
explored its intrinsic essence.
The
young
sailor
Ishmael
is
a
funny,
carefree
seeker,
and
he
also
has
the
temperament of the philosopher and the
sentimental character. He chose to be a sailor
not for money or power. “Chief among
these motives was the overwhelming idea of
the
great
whale
himself.
Such
a
portentous
and
mysterious
monster
roused
all
my
curiosity.”
[8]
He
likes the carefree life. He also has the air of a
philosopher, thinking
that
water
is
the
cause
of
human
thinking.
Ishmael’s
view
of
nature
can
be
known
through his view of ocean and the
whales. He is full of respect and love for nature.
We
can get a clue in chapter 1. As a
depressed and poor primary school teacher, he was
tired of terrestrial life and longed
for mysterious marine life. Why could the sea hook
up
his
strong
interest?
On
one
hand,
the
marine
life
can
drive
off
the
spleen
and
regulate the
circulation. On the other hand, Ishmael thought
that things faraway were
full of
mystery. Thus, in the eyes of Ishmael, life on
land was dull while life on sea
was
mysterious; the former can even cause mental
despair, making people feel lonely
and
melancholy while ocean has a therapeutic effect.
From all the above, we can see
that
Ishmael values the beauty of ocean and his
determination to seek the beauty of
nature. In the novel, Ishmael described
in detail the type and structure of the whale,
conveying
his
love
of
nature
and
the
whale.
In
chapter
45,
Ishmael
told
us
some
stories about big
whales and named them such as Tom, Jack and
Miguel. Moreover,
he even compared them
to the king of Persia and Julius Caesar,
reflecting a kind of
equality and
respect among all creature. In chapter 87,
Ishmael
compared the scene
where
whales
got
panicked
for
human’s
hunting
with
that
where
people
got
into
a
panic in
a fire
and
fled
for survival.
So it seems that there is
no
reason
to
laugh at
these frightened whales because humans
also become flustered in emergency. In the
novel, Ishmael patiently showed us the
whaling and whales, drawing us a picture of
the vibrant life on the sea. As to the
sea, Ishmael held a manner of love and humility.
Whales and the sea are the symbols of
nature. Ishmael’s
appreciation of
whales and
the
sea
shows
his
understanding,
appreciation
and
respect
of
nature
and
other
creatures.
In the novel,
Ishmael gave two different kinds of opinions on
the persecution of
man to man and man
to animal. In his view, a Fijian who, to cope with
the coming
famine, took a preacher
pickled in the cellar was more justifiable and
worth to forgive
than
those
who
killed
geese
and
used
their
livers
to
make
liver
cakes.
Because
the
former’s
behaviour
was
to
meet
the
basic
needs
to
survive,
which
was
a
kind
of
physiological
instinct of
people; the latter’s action was
for
fun and pleasure.
If
you
give up the ethics of
human society and stand on the point of equal
views of all beings,
you will know
there bears no difference to eat a person or
animal when in hunger.
All in all,
Ishmael kept different views from Ahab’s and
Starbuck’s. He did not
keep human’s
interests as center but thought about nature as
equally as human.
Part II
Different Fates Resulted from Different Ecological
Views
In
this
novel,
different
characters
had
different
ecological
views,
which
led
to
their different endings.
2.1
Pequod’s
destruction
If the
whale is a symbol of nature, the whaling fleet
Pequod is a microcosm of
the
human
society,
which
has
the
characteristics
of
all
kinds
of
relationships
and
structures in human society.
In
the
19th
century
whaling
was
semi-
mechanized.
Without
an
advanced
productivity, the
whalers needed to risk his life to drive a boat
near the great whale,
cast the harpoon
rope, and then let the big whale struggle
violently in the sea. It was
lucky that
the big whale soon got dead. Otherwise, the
whalers would meet with the
whale
’
s attacks
like Moby Dick, during which the boat might
capsize. Despite of all
these,
due to
the lucrative profit,
whaling was
still a booming industry
at
that time.
Pequod reflected the reality.
On
pequod,
captain
Ahab
stands
at
the
top
followed
by
the
chief
mate,
the
second
mate
and
the
third,
in
the
bottom
the
white
sailors
and
colored
ones.
The
whaling ship Pequod really looks like a
miniature hierarchical society. At the cultural
level, Pequod reflects a multicultural
human world. Sailors on board comes from all
over
the
world.
The
ethnic
composition
is
complex,
there
being
whites,
blacks,
Indians, tribal
people from tropical islands and so on. In terms
of religion, there are
Christianity,
oriental
zoroastrianism
and
Queequeg
’
s
original
idol
worship.
The
miniature human society, under the
guidance of captain Ahab, started a fight against
the white whale which stands for
nature.
Ahab and his crew fought
with the big whale Moby Dick for three days. In
the
end, ship Pequod sank and all the
crew except Ishmael got dead.
And now,
concentric circles seized the lone boat itself,
and all its crew, and
each floating
oar, and every lancepole, and spinning, animate
and inanimate,
all round and round in
one vortex, carried the smallest chip of the
Pequod out
of
sight.
[9]
The
tragedy
seems
to
warn
us:
in
the
presence
of
nature,
human
beings
are
not
invincible.
2.2
Ishmael
’
s lucky survival
The name of Ishmael also stems from the
old testament. Scripture says that he is
the son of
Abraham
’
s concubine Hagar.
After Abraham's wife Sarai also had her own
son, Hager and Ishmael were abandoned.
When the two people got lost in the wild,
little
Ishmael
’
s
cry was
heard by God who
sent
angels
to
comfort
them
with
water.
And God told them the
descendants of Ishmael would take the throne. So <
/p>
“
Ishmael
”
later means
“
God is
listening
”
.
In the novel,
God was
also
listening. when all
crew
died under Moby
Dick
’
s attacks, Ishmael
survived and got rescued by the captain of
“
Raj
”
.
We
have
talked
about
the
different
ecological
views
of
Ahab,
Ishmael
and
Starbuck in the previous chapter. And
human
’
s views towards nature
decide the future
of
the
world
and
our
fate.
That
is
the
reason
why
Ishmael
could
survive
from
the
devastating disaster. From the end of
the novel,
Moby-Dick
conveys
an idea: human
should keep a harmonious
and equal relationship with nature. Otherwise,
human will
get punished by nature
sooner or later.
Ishmael's
survival
symbolizes
the
victory
of
the
harmony
between
man
and
nature. And his mission is to bring the
lesson of Ahab to human. Ishmael was filled
with awe to nature. He was friendly to
nature. Whether on the ship or on the masthead,
Ishmael was always looking at sea and
appreciating the beauty of the whales. And he
came
to
the
sea
because
the
marine
life
could
drive
off
the
spleen
and
regulate
the
circulation.
Ishmael never
belonged to the group who went out to sea for
economic
profit and revenge. So his
survival at end of the novel is not surprising.
Part III
Modern Enlightenment of
Moby-Dick
Moby-dick
contains
rich
ecological
ethic
thoughts
which
influence
younger
writers
and
modern
environmentalists.
As
a
profound
ecological
apocalypse,
this
novel not only has the
rich ecological meaning, but also has warnings and
guidances
to the reality. The theme of
relationship between man and nature in
M
oby-Dick
has its
modern values which embody ecological
enlightenment and practical significance.
3.1 Ecological enlightenment
Strictly,
Moby-
Dick
does
not
belong
to
ecological
literature,
but
it
ends
with
a
tragedy,
inspiring human from the opposite side to realize
the necessity of respecting
nature.
Some
ecological
apocalypses
the
novel
contains
influence
the
younger
generation writers
and modern environmentalists.
From the
ecological view, the first revelation of
Moby-Dick
is to stimulate
the
human
’
s
consciousness
of
environmental
protection
through
the
review
of
western
civilization. The 19th century
witnessed lots of great changes. The western
countries
carried
out
a
series
of
successful
reforms
such
as
the
renaissance,
religious
reform,
science
and
technology
revolution
and
the
enlightenment,
and,
effectively
demonstrating the power of human reason
and the power of science and technology.
At that time, environmental problems
was not so prominent and people immersed in
the joy of achievements in the
industrial society brought by science and
technology.
People thought it was
“his right and duty to subdue,
organize,
investigate and exploit
to serve his profane mental curiosity
or his acquisitive material
appetites.”
[10]
Only a
few
people
such
as
Melville
had
a
sense
of
crisis
and
pondered
over
the
western
civilization.
First
of
all,
Melville
revealed
people
’
s
desire
of
marine
life.
Under
the
industrial
civilization,
People
at
that
time
became
alienated
like
machines,
so
they
were eager to have a close contact with
the sea which stands for nature. Ishmael, the
narrator of the novel was a
representative. The neurotic youth with depression
desired
strongly to go out to sea.
Second, Melville praised the primitive culture and
accused
western civilization of natural
hazards. In the beginning, Ishmael was filled with
fear
of Cannibal Queequeg but later
they became bosom friends. Queequeg who wanted to
enter the
civilized country and learned their civilization
at an early age later found the
so-
called civilized men were more despicable than
barbarians. Here, from the angle of
Queequeg, Melville indirectly
criticized the western civilization, the cradle of
evil. In
addition, Ishmael thought
highly of Queequeg and became interested in his
primitive
culture. In the eyes of
Ishmael, Queequeg instead of being
“
civilized
”
influenced the
“
civilized
”
people and moralized them.
Melville expressed his
hatred and
reflection
on
the
western
civilization
by
comparing
the
primitive
civilization
and
western
civilization. Melville also saw western
civilization
’
s harm to
nature. Pequod was such
an example. The
captain Ahab wen out to sea for revenge. Other
crew represented by
Starbuck drifted
out to sea for the sake of wealth. But they had
one thing in common:
for their own
interests to conquer and pillage nature. Melville
thought human could
not conquer nature
no matter how advanced the science and technology
was. Melville
realized the dangers of
western industrial civilization to nature, and at
the same time,
the western civilization
was also the real cause of the tragedy of Ahab.
Ahab's javelin
hit the white whale but
unfortunately his neck was entangled by the rope
and he was
hanged like a criminal.
Obviously, Ahab did not die of the attacks of the
white whale,
but died of the modern
industrial civilization.
Facing the
increasingly serious ecological crisis, how could
human beings get out
of the problems?
Moby-Dick
provides us
with
the second
enlightenment:
respecting
nature is the ultimate redemption of
human. Human beings should treat nature as an
equal entity, respect its intrinsic
value, and should not be selfish to satisfy their
own
desires and do harm to nature. In
Melville
’
s eyes, all life is
sacred with no different
grades.
And
he
advocates
moral
extension
to
the
animals.
At
the
end
of
the
novel,
Ahab
and
other
crew
on
Pequod
died
and
only
Ishmael
got
survived.
Why
did
Melville create such an end?
What
’
s the difference
between Ishmael and Ahab? Their
purposes out to sea are totally
different and their ecological views are
different. The
author
tries
to
tell
us
that
we
human
beings
should
learn
from
Ishmael.
To
respect
nature is to save
ourselves.
3.2 Practical significance
In recent years, with the
vigorous development of the green movement and the
rapid
awakening
of
human
ecological
consciousness,
the
research
of
ecological
criticism
develops quickly with the relationship between man
and nature as one of the
most important
topics. In
Moby-Dick
,
Melville expressed his attention to nature and
the relationship between human and
nature, which is very useful to solve ecological
crisis we are
facing today.
In history, the relationship between
human and nature are, in order, dependence,
exploitation,
plunder
and
harmonious
coexistence.
In
the
primitive
age,
human
was
weak in power and greatly depended on
nature, so they had a sense of awe to nature.
With the improvement of
productivity, human used their limited
abilities to exploit
and utilize
nature. When it came to the industrial
civilization era, human, with their
power getting stronger and stronger,
began to conquer nature. This period witnessed
human
’
s
boundlessly plundering on natural resources and
ecological environment was
unprecedentedly destroyed. Nature, at
the same time, took revenge on human beings.
Gradually we human realized our mistake
and began to keep harmony with nature.
In
the
21th
century,
modernization
with
industry
as
its
core
has
brought
us
unprecedented
prosperity.
Industries
of
steel,
petroleum,
chemical
and
others
are
booming,
while
hidden
behind
all
these
is
a
series
of
crisis.
First,
the
industrial
civilization
has
brought
unprecedented
destruction
to
the
ecological
environment.
Now we can
hardly see the charming natural scenery and the
primitive tribal life, but
instead,
we
often
see
the
ugliness
and
dilapidated
scenery
in
which
ocean
is
overfished; desert
rapidly expands; coverage rate of forest falls
sharply; fresh water is
becoming
more
and
more
scarce;
species
extinction
is
accelerating
on
the
planet.
Second,
the
industrial
civilization
leads
to
the
imbalance
of
human
spirit.
Human
beings begin to pursue
material benefits crazily. And they feel empty and
bored in the
material
consumption.
Their
inspirations
are
repressed.
They
even
don't
even
know
what they really want.
Mankind has become the slaves of the material.
This kind of
spiritual imbalance leads
to a series of social problems, such as drug
abuse, crime and
suicide. In the novel,
Ahab is a victim of industrial civilization who
falls into spiritual
crisis
and
alienation.
Third,
the
industrial
civilization
leads
to
nature
’
s
revenge
on
human.
Engels in the
Dialectics of
Nature
once warned that we
won
’
t be reveling in
our human victory over nature, and for
each such victory, nature will take revenge on
us. On the one hand, there are some
climate anomalies, such as floods, El Nino, heat
waves,
cold
waves,
which
are
threatening
human
’
s
lives.
on
the
other
hand,
environmental
degradation
threatens
human
health,
triggering
a
series
of
illnesses
such
as
SARS
and
cancer.
In
Moby-Dick
,
the
white
whale
’
s
attacks
on
human
symbolize
nature
’
s resistance to
human. This situation just confirms Rachel
Carson
’
s
words
that human beings are unaware that they are just
part of nature, and the final
price of
conquering nature is burying themselves. In the
21st century, Melville
’
s
point
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